Tsarina Volkov: Turtle in Training
by Dragonblooded
Summary: Sequel to What Have I Done Now? Tsarina thought she could return to a normal life after the Shredder was defeated. Oh, how she was wrong. Now she has to grapple with foes of the past, as well as a group of new enemies. Being the sister of mutant turtles isn't easy, that's for sure.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a sequel to "What Have I Done Now?" I highly recommend reading that before this story, otherwise this story will make little sense and Tsarina's involvement will be confusing, as well as Echo's. For those of you who did like the original, I happily present the return of Tsarina in "Tsarina Volkov: Turtle in Training"!**

"I can't believe school starts TOMMOROW. Ugh." I groaned, putting my head in my hands, "And all my stuff's back in Ohio. I am screwed." I sat on the couch (in the sewer. Don't judge.)

"You mean you didn't bring it with you?" Leo asked.

"Y'know Leo, when your being kidnapped by a bunch of freaks in a black van, you don't think about school supplies." I retorted with a grin.

"Whatever, Spikette." Leo said, returning the smile. He ruffled my hair affectionately before disappearing to do whatever it is teenage mutant ninja turtles do.

Ah yes, Spikette, the obnoxiously clever pet name that Leo has taken to given me when Raph's not , Raph is only openly caring and protective about two things: me, and the tiny non-mutated turtle Spike. Henceforth, I am now Spikette. Though Leo seems a bit too scared of Raph to call me that in front of him. I have too many nicknames: Spikette, Z, ZZ, Turtlina, the list goes on and on.

Raph strode past the couch, patting me on the head. I loved the whole I-now-have-four-brothers-who-did-not-know-I-existe d-until-three-months

-ago thing, but the little head pats and hair ruffles and unnecessary amount of hugs was starting to get on my nerves. I figured it would wear off after a while, but man I wish a while would come faster! Splinter acted as indifferent to me as he did my brothers and April, showing that he cared by hitting me with a green stick. My dad's interesting, alright, and not just because he's a mutant rodent. Shen on the other hand, she's the hug-you-for-no-reason type. Now I know where Mikey gets it from. There's also the fact that the spirit of my deceased mother kinda sorta lives in my head. That makes it difficult NOT to have an uber-close relationship. You also get ZERO privacy. Y'know how you'll think something dirty and be happy your parents can't hear? Imagine that your mother heard every single word that you ever thought. You'd be in some SERIOUS trouble, right? My life exactly.

ANYWAY, to get back to school, tomorrow was my first day as an eighth grader. Technically, I should be a sophomore, as I should technically be sixteen, but on account of some weird spirit continuum bending-the-fabric-of-space-and-time stuff that I don't understand, I'm three years too young. I have absolutely no idea how this is possible, although Tang Shen attempted to explain multiple times. I just go with the flow. Suddenly, Donnie darted through the living room, juggling a test tube filled with a sludge glowing electric blue. "If my calculations are correct, the vinegar-like substance in the Kraang water and the baking soda type dilute will…." He muttered, holding the flagon far away from his body. Quickly, he dunked it in the pool of sewer water. Seconds later, a loud boom echoed through the room and the vial erupted underwater, splattering Donnie with his glowing mixture. "Combust." He finished, scraping the gunk off his safety goggles.

"Be more careful!" I exclaimed, "I have more than enough problems to worry about without adding you blowing yourself up."

"Calm down, Zina." He answered, inspecting his gooey beaker, "I know what I'm doing."

Zina. Yet another of the nicknames they have adopted. It seems they each have a go-to nickname for me. Leo's is Spikette, Mikey's is Z, Raph's is ZZ, and Donnie's is Zina.

"Yeah, and pigs can fly." I said in a sarcastic tone.

"They could if you put them on a plane." Donnie stated all too seriously.

"Shut it!" I snapped, "I'm trying to think of how I can get my stuff in Ohio to here without walking all the way there. Maybe I can use the Force…."

"Or we could drive you." Donnie suggested, messing with his beaker.

"You mean you can drive?!" I exclaimed.

"Leo can." Donnie said, as if this were a normal thing.

"But you're only fifteen!" I declared.

"Zina, do you want us to drive you there or not?" he asked, looking up from his vial to stare at me.

I returned his cold gaze before asking, "Where are you going to get a car?"

To this, Donnie just grinned.

I stood staring at awe at the Shellraiser. The enormous subway car loomed over me in all its graffiti-covered glory. Donnie smiled again and asked, "So, what do you think, Zina?"

In response, I blinked twice. Once I had shaken myself out of my spellbound stupor, I walked around the cart, trying to find the door. Raph stuck his hand between two doors as they slid open. With a sheepish smile, I said, "Sorry. I'm not experienced with subways. Country girl and all that."

Mikey ushered me in and stated, "Don't worry about it, Z." I gazed around, returning to my awestruck dream-state. The inside was a sort of urban-shabby-chic that I found so cool. A giant map with a square magnifying glass adorned one wall, with a turtle-sized chair next to it. I noted the seatbelt buckle had an 'M' on it. A giant control panel stood next to a chair with an 'R' buckle. A small compartment off to the side covered in monitors held the 'D' chair. The 'L' chair sat before the steering wheel. Little things like a reel-to reel radio and an ice cream lamp gave it a homey feel and told me that the turtles decorated this themselves.

With a dorky grin on my face, I said, "It's so cute!" Cute?! I just called my mutant brothers' tricked-out, weaponized, kick-butt car cute! I am SO in for it!

Raph answered with a fake angry growl and the statement, "I think there are better words than cute for the Shellraiser, ZZ."

"What about awesome?" I asked, "Or there's breathtaking, splendid, remarkable, awe-inspiring, tremendous, amazing…."

"We get it." Leo groaned, cutting me off, "Anyway, there's one more thing we have to do before taking you back home."

"And that is….?" I asked.

With a grimace, Leo stated, "We have to get Splinter to agree."

Donnie, Raph, and Mikey simultaneously groaned. "Oh well, it was a nice try, guys." Mikey said, walking away.

"Hold on." I said with a devilish grin, "I got this."

"Please, Master Splinter! I promise I'll take my moroha!" I begged. For the past fifteen minutes I had been pleading with Splinter to let me go on the voyage to Ohio.

"For the thirty-second time, NO!" Splinter exclaimed. I think I was starting to tick him off. It mightn't have helped that I interrupted him during his meditation (If you ever have the pleasure of meeting my dad, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, interrupt him during meditation time.) I could've picked a better time for this, but I was confident in my persuasion abilities.

Shen was easy to win over; it helps that since she shares my mind, she almost always sees my side. She hovered behind Splinter. I mentally looked at her and shrugged. "He's very stubborn, Tsarina." She answered, her dignified Japanese accent meshing with the laid-back American tone she acquired from me, "Always has been; always will be."

I silently groaned. "Why can't I?" I whined.

"We have been over this, Tsarina!" he stated. I'm incredibly happy he hasn't started calling me Miwa; that usually means "This is over. No more discussion. Go away before I get the stick out." I fear that stick.

I decided to kick my persuasiveness into overdrive. I tilted my head and asked in a high-pitched voice, "Please, Dad."

"You are wasting your breath." He retorted.

Man, he was holding out. I initiated Operation: Ultimate Cuteness. Step 1: Tilt head sideways. Step 2: Tilt head forward. Step 3: Push bangs over eyes. Step 4: Look up through bangs. Step 5: Pouty face. Step 6: Blink twice. Step 7: Activate Waterworks. Step 8: Clasp hands like an angel child. Step 9: Use baby voice. With the voice of a toddler, I said, "Pwetty pwease, Dahddy." None can resist the Tsarina Cuteness Method, not even Master Splinter. He looked as if he were going to give. I blinked again and tilted my head more, for good measure.

Splinter sighed and relented, "Alright. You may go."

"Yes!" I cheered, throwing my hands in the air, "Thank you, Daddy!" I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, snagged my new windbreaker (fuzzy green-tan with a turtle shell pattern. Say what you want, I like it.), and ran into the garage. "Road trip!" I yelled once I passed through the door.

"How did you do that?!" Mikey exclaimed, sticking his head out of the car.

"Cuz I'm just awesome like that." I stated, punching his arm before hopping into the Shellraiser.

"That you are." Raph declared before following me in.

"I swear he treats that girl like you treat your Space Heroes book." Donnie said, receiving a burning glare from Leo.

"You guys coming?" I asked, peeking out from between the doors.

"Yep." Donnie said, jumping into the car to escape the wrath of Leo.

With a smile, I grabbed Leo's hand and dragged him into the Shellraiser. "C'mon, Hero Boy." I stated, "Your sidekicks are waiting."

"HEY!" Mikey protested.

**I know this chapter doesn't really lead anywhere, but the next chapter has a lot more background on Z. I hope everyone who liked WHIDN is happy with how the story's starting. **


	2. Chapter 2

**I realize that according to Booyakashowdown, Karai is Miwa and not Tsarina, but I ask that you use your imagination and pretend that never happened. The last chapter of WHIDN acts as a replacement event for the encounter with Shredder during Booyakashowdown. The Kraang Prime run-in still occurred, just at an earlier time, before Z becomes involved. Also, for those of you who don't know what Tsarina's moroha are, they are a knife used in pairs, about the length from your knee to your ankle. They belong to a group of knives called tanto (there's a line over the o) Wikipedia has a good picture; just imagine those knives with a double-sided blade and you have her moroha. Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT or Cut the Rope Cosmic Box. **

I perched comfortably on my pillow inside the Shellraiser, playing my iPod. The car lurched to the side, making me slice through a cluster of ropes. The little green creature pouted when his peppermint flew off the screen. "Dang it!" I shouted, stabbing the restart button.

"Still stuck on the same level?" Raph asked.

"Yes." I snarled, "Anti-gravity is annoying enough without being thrown from side to side." I yelled, "LEO! YOU NEED TO DRIVE BETTER!"

"I'M SORRY!" he hollered back, "WOULD YOU HAVE PREFERRED I RUN OVER THE SQUIRREL?!" In answer, Raph raised the garbage cannon on the roof and fired it. A pained squeal followed it.

"That was very mean." Mikey said.

"That was the point." Raph stated in a "You seriously don't know this?" tone.

"Would you stop bickering like troglodytes over a turkey bone and focus on steering this thing?" Donnie's voice called.

"Trogla-wha?" Mikey asked.

"Exactly." Donnie replied.

I silently groaned. This had been going on for four hours and there was still one more to go. How much would I've had to pay a taxi driver to take me there and back? "Probably more than you can afford." Tang Shen answered. Ah yes, I have forgotten, since apparently Tang Shen can't go further than a mile away from me without some problem, she has to tag along as well. She agreed to stay on the roof, but I know she's still listening. I ignore her and focus on getting Om Nom his candy.

An hour later (I somehow beat the level), Leo noted a sign that said "Pennsylvania Limits" I sighed; nearly there. With a jolt, I realized that a giant souped-up subway car that might not have looked suspicious in New York was certainly going to look it here. It might look suspicious enough that a cop might pull us over, only to discover there's a mutant driving the vehicle! In a state of panic, I shouted, "We're too conspicuous!"

"We'll be fine." Raph said, shrugging it off, "We were never noticed back home."

"You don't get it. This isn't big city New York where there are more people than there are ants." I replied, "This is small town Ohio where you know every car of every person within the township. This is everyone-knows-your-name, every-other-building-is-a-farm, leave-your-door-unlocked town. We'll stick out like a sore thumb."

"What do you suggest we do, Z? It can't be helped now." Leo asked.

I contemplated for a minute, before declaring, "If we get pulled over, let me do the talking." Lo and behold, the second we turn on my road, the inside of the Shellraiser became painted blue and red. I dashed from one end of the car to the other as Leo pulled over. Quickly, I flipped the hood of my turtle pattern jacket over my head and tucked all my hair inside it.

"Let's see, you were going 55 in a 45 zone." The policeman droned, flipping through a notepad.

I glared at Leo. He mouthed, "Sorry."

The cop glanced upward and gaped at the large car. "What the heck are you driving?" he sputtered. His gaze drifted from the car to the driver. "And why the heck do you look like a freaking lizard?"

"Actually, we're turtles." I declared, sticking my head next to Leo's.

"Okay." The man answered, speaking to me like you would if you were trying to explain to a pre-scholar that Santa doesn't exist without making them cry, "Why?"

"Why do you think? We're on our way to a birthday party! It's little Miss Annalisa Romanov's 9th birthday!" I exclaimed, remembering that my cousin's birthday was today. I gave a big clown grin and nudged Leo, to which he ditzily smiled.

"Alright." The cop replied, still using the pre-school tone, "But wouldn't a little girl want a princess or a fairy or a mermaid or something?"

"The little girl likes turtles, so we're turtles!" I replied, covering my nervousness with a big smile.

The policeman's suspiciousness seemed to fade slightly as he asked, "Any particular reason you were speeding?"

"We're late. We got holed up in traffic." I decreed, using a tone of innocence, "You wouldn't want to keep a little girl waiting, would you?" I batted my eyelashes and pouted my lip slightly.

The man was much easier to win over than Splinter. He succumbed to my charm and said, "Okay. Sorry to waste your time! You get to that party now!" He turned around and began to return to his cop car. Leo let out a sigh of relief. "Wait a minute!" he shouted, stalking back over.

Hiding my disgust with yet another clown grin, I asked politely, "Yes, officer?"

"Does your little party group have a name?" he asked.

I silently fumbled for a name; something clever, something that rhymed, anything convincing. An idea struck me so suddenly I expected to hear a dinging noise and have a cartoon light bulb appear over my head. "We're the Booyakasha Buddies!"

Leo shot me a look that said, "Did you really have to pick that?", "What has Mikey done with you?", and "You have problems." all within the span of seconds.

"BOOYAKASHA!" Mikey cried from the bowels of the van.

With a nervous smile, I explained, "That happens every time you say it."

"The Booyakasha Buddies?" the cop asked.

"BOOYAKASHA!" Mikey answered.

"Um, okay." The policeman declared before vanishing into his car once and for all. A flash of black and white sped past us as he left to harass some other poor soul.

"BOOYAKASHA!" Mikey called after him.

Leo looked at me with a slight smile and stated, "You handled that pretty well, but really, Booyakasha Buddies?"

"Hey, he left, didn't he?" I replied, shrugging off my jacket, "My house is only a little bit away. We have a mailbox that looks like a log cabin."

Leo drove down the road without any hassle, which was quite surprising considering the Shellraiser covers both sides of the road, and turned onto my driveway. I frowned when he clipped the cute mailbox that I had decorated with Popsicle sticks. A huge chunk of the wall peeled off, along with a large glob of dry glue, and exposed the silvery-white box underneath. Before Leo could continue down my long, winding driveway, I stated, "Park in the woods."

"What?" he asked, pressing the brake.

I gestured to a spot of grassy terrain barren of trees, just barely big enough to fit the Shellraiser into. "Don't you think people will become suspicious if a large 'birthday' van is parked in the driveway of a kid who's gone MIA?" I questioned. Leo didn't respond, but silently turned and parked in the little plain. He started to unbuckle, but I stopped him, saying, "I'd like to do this myself, if you don't mind." Leo held up his hands in submission and gestured to the door. I smiled and snuck out, Shen hovering behind me. I trudged down my lengthy driveway and stopped, staring at my old home. A small grin fluttered at the ends of my lips.

I noted my mom's old silver Honda Ridgeline was still parked in the garage. Seeing her sedan threatened to tear the smile off my face, but I held it there firmly, focusing on the happiness of being back. The front door creaked open, and the homey scent I loved drifted through the air: a combination of Coca Cola, cat hair, and memories. Stopping myself from getting swept away by it, I focused on my task and strode through the living room and kitchen without the slightest care. A mound of rainbow-colored papers on the dining room table attracted my attention. From what I know, if something's on colored paper, it's important. And this was colored text on colored paper with a colored photo. A triple threat. I read the headline; "Missing Child" I continued reading, not making the connection. I assumed it must've been a family friend or one of my many cousins. "Name: Tsarina Eloise Volkov." It said, "Height: 5' 5". Hair Color: Brown. Eye Color: Green. Went missing May 29th, 2013." A pang of sympathy struck me as I realized how much pain I must've put my mom through. My dad wasn't around much; he never seemed to care for me. Quickly, I deviated my gaze and continued into my bedroom.

I grinned wider as I entered my old bedroom. The pretty forest wall greeted me; I remember how much fuss I made over getting paint that exactly matched my eyes. My canopy draped over my jaded jade comforter like the ivy it was patterned with. The flinty mirror of my vanity sparkled at me. A tall fur-covered scratching post topped with a cat bed sat in the corner of the room, and it the bed laid a calico cat with a rotting grass-woven collar. "Scotch!" I cried. The cat looked up and yowled in surprise before leaping across the room. He rubbed against my legs with amazing vigor for the one-year-old kitten and purred like a Cadillac. I picked him up and set to work gathering my school supplies and other odds and ends I needed or wanted. Occasionally I rushed into my parents' room for things like photo books and change. I felt kinda bad taking my parents' money, but I felt I had more need of it than them, and one of them wouldn't really need it where they were. All my dad ever bought was alcohol, anyway. Just to be safe, I left $50 in the lockbox. Once I gathered everything, I attempted to pack it all into my itsy-bitsy book bag. I ended up having to fill one of my mom's huge purses as well. Just as I was about to leave, I heard the rumbling of tires on my gravel drive. "It's nice of Leo to drive up here for me." I thought, peering between the living room curtains. To my surprise, it wasn't the Shellraiser in the drive but a black sports car. My DAD'S black sports car.

Lightning fast, I threw the book bag straps over one shoulder and the purse's over another. I clutched Scotch tightly as I barreled through the house and out the back door, slamming it shut. I sprinted across the backyard and prayed my dad wouldn't be compelled to look out the bay window. Fortunately, he wasn't, and I vanished into the woods. I wheeled around and ran along the right edge of the woods, close to the edge. I wasn't concerned with him seeing me now; Dad was never observant, but he wasn't stupid enough to not see a girl in a pink shirt running across his treeless backyard. There was also the fact he was probably inside at the time. Sadly, I gauged our speeds wrong, and I blurred past while he was still outside, retrieving something from his car, at the perfect angle to spot me.

"Stop!" he yelled, the word slightly garbled.

I continued to run, thinking he wouldn't be able to stop me. What I didn't notice was that I had slanted to the right, away from the edge, and I crashed headlong into my neighbor's (a farmer) electric fence. It felt like a Mastiff had rammed into the back of my legs. Staggering backward involuntarily, I stumbled out of the wood and into the view of my frightened father.

"Tsarina?" he asked.

I breathed out heavily. I had hoped to escape and remain missing, but I guess Dad had a right to know what had happened to me. I wore a small, haggard smile as I turned to face my rapidly approaching dad. I expected to receive a bone-crushing hug, a relieved sigh, or even some sign of respite, but no. Instead I was greeted by a stinging slap across the face. I felt Tang Shen start, and through her, the surprised reactions of my brothers. I stood staring not at the man before me, but at the turbo-speed PowerPoint of memories playing on the inside of my retinas. Images, scents, and sounds flashed by quickly. The underlying anger I always heard in my dad's voice; the heavy, pungent smell that was always on my dad's breath, what I now recognize was alcohol; the coincidental amount of 'accidents' my mom would get into when dad was around, all resulting in large amounts of bruises; how my mom would constantly warn me to never get dad angry. They all threaded together as if I had just discovered where the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle went.

"How dare you just leave and then think you can come crawling back when the going gets tough!" he shouted in a drunken fury, "Do you know what you did to your poor mother?! Where is she now?!"

"She is dead." I stated blindly, glaring at the monster I had just unearthed.

He emotionlessly looked at me before dealing me another slap. I felt my cheeks redden, yet I wasn't even slightly embarrassed. "What did you do to her, you monster child?!" he yelled. Tang Shen tensed up; one more slap and she would spring. I knew my brothers had heard this one too; it was louder than the last one. I silently willed them to keep away. Adding mutants to the situation wouldn't help any. My dad ranted and raved on, "We raised you like a proper girl, and you show us your thanks by deserting us! How could any blood of mine…."

"I am not of your blood." I declared coldly. Another blank stare preceded a slap. This time, I caught him at the wrist. He strained and struggled to either slap me or escape my hold, but I held his squirming hand in place, my cat occupying my other arm. "I am not your blood, nor your kin, nor am I even Russian." I stated in a stony anger, "I know the truth. I have been lied to, and none of your inebriated excuses can change that. I have found my real father, the one who actually pays attention to me instead of wasting his life drowning in alcohol!" My stoniness washed away as I furiously reprimanded my father. "You were never a father to me. Mom had to be two parents in one. Speaking of Mom, I know what you did to her, and frankly, she's better off where she is now. And now that's she's gone, I know that you will try to use me as your next punching bag, but I won't have it!" I released his wrist and stalked away, leaving him frozen in shock. I strode into the Shellraiser and slammed the door behind me.

"You did the right thing." Tang Shen stated, laying a ghostly hand on my shoulder.

"I know." I murmured. As I passed, heading for my pillow, Raph stopped me.

"Are you gonna be okay?" he asked. I nodded softly. He unbuckled his seatbelt and strapped me into his chair. I curled up into a ball and rocked back and forth, running through every memory I had before New York.

Leo noted when we crossed the Ohio border. Honestly, I was happy to leave it behind.


	3. Chapter 3

**Just a warning now, some impolite words come up in this chapter that are not bleeped, so beware.**

For the rest of the ride back I stayed balled up like that, my chin resting on my knees, clinging to my tanto like a child clings to a stuffed animal. Any time the bad memories threatened to sweep me away I squeezed the sheaths and thought green. I felt that ever since I had been ferried to New York it was as if I have been standing on thin ice, and people keep dropping bombshells on me. I was getting hit with shock after shock: a metal man wants me dead; mutant turtles and a mutant rat live underneath New York; I have a Japanese spirit in my head; I'm adopted; said mutant turtles, mutant rat, and Japanese spirit are my real family; my mom is dead. Each bombshell cracked the ice a little bit more, and unless I learned quickly how to stop letting the ice get cracked, I just might fall through. Truthfully, out of all the recent events, the last realization hit the hardest. Discovering my dad was abusive had severed a connection to my past I very much cherished. Amid all the confusing revelations about my heritage, I treasured the knowledge that the life I had so far lived held no secrets I didn't know about. Now, I was so bewildered it seemed like someone blindfolded me and told me to walk through a forest. You'll develop a method, maybe the moss-on-the-north-side-of-the-rock thing, but what do you do when suddenly you can't find a rock? You're stranded in a forest and you can't see. True, you could always take off the blindfold, but that's giving up. True, I could just desert Splinter and Shen and the turtles and live with my grandparents, but that too would be giving up, and I could never do that to them. I sighed, loud and deep, and resumed hugging my moroha. A few minutes later, I somehow fell asleep.

I awoke in my bed underneath New York, somnolently staring to the dark of my room. With a moan, I stumbled to the light switch and turned on the single light bulb that dangled from the roof. Someday, I'm gonna string Chinese lanterns from the rafters instead. Rubbing my eyes, I peered at my clock. It read 6:00 a.m. Good, I still had an hour to spare. My weary eyes drifted to the mirror I had attached to my wall with pounds of sticky putty. I winced, not just because it hurt to wince, but because of my appearance. Most of my face was as red as Donnie's when you mentioned April, excluding the stark white handprints on my cheeks. It hurt to even slightly twitch my mouth, let alone smile or speak. I had no idea how I was gonna survive school. Retrieving my iPod from my purse, I quickly texted April, "Could you bring some foundation down to the lair before school?" I looked back in the mirror and added, "Maybe some blush too?"

I snuck like a shadow into the kitchen and stole breakfast from the fridge. Silently and with difficulty, I gnawed on my pizza-sickle and watched my brothers mill about. When anyone glanced toward me, I pressed my back against the wall and flipped my shoulder blade length hair over my face, nibbling inconspicuously on my thawing food. Once I had finished, I tiptoed into the bathroom and brushed my teeth as quickly as possible to avoid any extra pain. A single touch to my cheek or tremble of my lip racked my face with such horrible throbbing that I'm surprised I didn't end up on the floor convulsing. Tiptoeing to my room once more, I changed from the muddy pink tunic I had worn all yesterday to the same outfit I had worn when I first met the Shredder and the turtles: my peachy t-shirt adorned in curlicues, my jean skirt, and tan cowboy boots. According to the mirror, everything from the neck down was in order, but my face still looked terrible. The redness seemed to have faded, but the white prints had brightened. My freckles were invisible in the mess of red and white, and my forest green eyes seemed pale and colorless next to my radiant skin. I prayed that April would come quickly.

Sure enough, the second the thought left my mind, I heard April's voice call, "Z?"

"In my room!" I replied, not wanting the turtles, especially Raph, to know the severity of the injuries.

April knocked on the door and asked gently, "May I come in?"

I turned so that I was neither facing her nor the mirror. I didn't want her to have to see me until absolutely necessary. "Yeah." I answered. I probably could've just asked her to pass me the make-up and done it myself, but I feared for this big a job I'd mess something up and make myself look like a ninny.

April tiptoed inside and softly shut the door behind her. She slipped a tan bottle and a mauve compact. I watched her over my shoulder, peering out of the very corner of my eye in an achy manner. "Are you nervous about the first day of school?" she asked nonchalantly.

"I guess." I replied, "I mean, how can you NOT be? I'm just really worried that someone is gonna want to come over or something and I'm going to have to say no.

"I understand. All my friends just think I met a group of guys in a pizza parlor and we became friends." She declared with a smile, "Okay, now turn to face me so I can put this on."

I sputtered nervously, "Can you do it without looking?"

With a chuckle, she answered, "Not unless you want to look like a tan-and-pink clown!" I laughed awkwardly without smiling, so as to not aggravate my stinging face. "You're probably just overreacting, Z. You probably look great. Now come on and turn around." She said, grabbing my shoulder and turning me around. She gasped when she saw my mottled skin. "What HAPPENED to you?!" she cried.

With a sigh, I explained what had happened, opening my mouth as little as possible and attempting to avoid all words with b, f, m, n, p, and v, because I would have to move my lips. April tried to make me look halfway decent. When I had finished, April twisted me toward my mirror. I gasped; instead of splotchy redness and handprints, I had a perfect complexion. Even though I knew it would hurt, I couldn't help but smile at my reflection. "So…." April asked, "What do you think?"

In response, I rushed over and hugged her. "You're the best." I murmured.

"You said it, not me." She chuckled.

I quickly dug all the non-school supplies I had lugged back out of my book bag and tossed them on the bed. Little things I had been forced to live without like a quality hairbrush and my watch were in there, as well as some of my favorite books and old pictures. I donned the lime green backpack (if you haven't figured it out, I have this thing for green, even before I met the guys) and checked the clock. It read 6:50. If I was back home, I would've been on the bus, probably reading or drawing pictures in the condensation on the windows. Now, school is close enough to walk to, and it's quicker to walk if you're willing to cut through alleys. All you had to do is scale this one wall, walk through the alley on the other side, walk across the street and BOOM! You're there! I darted through the lair and waved to Splinter and Shen as I rocketed by. I didn't want to risk Splinter figuring out what had transpired, if Shen hadn't already told him. Shen waved back; the school was close enough that she didn't have to come with, which I was very grateful for. Sadly, I couldn't escape the hugging wrath of Mikey. He ambushed me as I leapt over the turnstiles, sweeping me up in his signature unintentional-bone-crusher.

"Gave a great day at school, Z!" he shouted, "I wish I could come with you!"

"I don't think you do." I replied, trying to pry him off.

Luckily, Raph peeled him off, saying, "Start running now before he escapes!"

I laughed and tore off, April calmly walking behind me. I scrambled up the wall and landed on the other side all in one swift move. Not bothering to look, I ran through the alley and across the road. I stood on the bottom stair and gazed up at an enormous school building ten times bigger than the one back home. April came up beside me and stated, "Welcome to Roosevelt High."

Now that I was standing in the midst of all these people, I suddenly became shy, looking at my feet and hiding behind my melted-chocolate-colored hair. Since I was the new kid, I had gotten a schedule ahead of time, plus they had surveyed my test scores and set me up in advanced classes. I had Social Studies first; nothing better than dead presidents in the morning. April led me to the class before heading to Biology.

I was the first person there, still I sat in the back corner; common sense told me that the people I would like as friends would approach me, not vice-versa. I checked my schedule. The teacher was a man named Mr. Emerson. Students began filing in, sitting in the opposite corner, pointing toward me and whispering. A waif-like girl with white-blonde hair long enough to sit on shuffled toward me. Her large-irised glacier eyes hovered over the seat next to me. I nodded and gestured to the seat. She smiled without showing her teeth and slunk into the chair. "Are you new here?" she asked in a high whispery voice.

"Yeah." I said, returning the smile out of courtesy and ignoring the stinging sensation spreading across my face, "I'm Tsarina."

"That's a pretty name." she replied, "I'm Merlind."

"I like that name." I declared truthfully, letting my smile broaden. Mind over matter; mind over matter; mind over matter.

"It was my grandmother's." the girl digressed, "Otherwise I would hate my parents for naming me it. You see, Merlind sounds like Merlin, and I got a huge gash on my head once and had to wear a big, white, filmy bandage. Everyone calls me…."

Before she could finish, a trio of boy came skipping into the classroom with their arms locked, singing loudly, "We're off to see the wizard! The Blunderful Wizard of Gauze!" They took turns thumping her on the forehead and chanted, "We hear she is a ditz of a wiz, if ever a ditz there was! If ever oh ever a ditz there was, the Wizard of Gauze is one because, because, because, because, because, because! Because of all the blunderful things she does!" Merlind turned bright red and glanced down. One boy even went as far as to dress up in a dark purple robe and dunce cap with stars all over them and a long fake silver beard. He swung a plastic fairy wand back and forth as it spewed glitter. Even louder, the boys sang, "WE'RE OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD! THE BLUNDERFUL WIZARD OF GAUZE!"

Sooner than I could give those boys a piece of my mind, the teacher entered the room and the scoundrels teleported into their seats. The wizard boy reappeared in jeans, skull-and-crossbones t-shirt, and Nikes. Mr. Emerson scanned the room, fastening his eyes on me. His stern face split into a broad smile as he exclaimed, "You must be the new student, Tsarina! Come here! Come here!" He beckoned energetically to me. Hiding behind my hair, I watched my feet as I traipsed to the front of the room. Not waiting for me to near him, Mr. Emerson crossed the gap between us in two broad steps and half pushed, half dragged me to the center of the room.

I study him through the haze of brown. He's roughly six foot tall with brown hair that's obviously been dyed and jade eyes. I shudder at the fact that he appears similar to me. I immediately start searching for differences. His nose is longer and skinnier than mine, and his eyes are lighter, less deep, and much less pretty. Wrinkles ran across his cheeks and to the sides of his eyes despite the amount of wrinkle cream heaped on them. Not to be vain, but I wear the look WAY better.

He gripped me by my shoulders and spun me to the face the crowd, tipping my chin upward so my hair-hiding technique was ineffective. "Class, meet Miss Tsarina Volkov. Now, I want you all to stand up and introduce yourselves, you first." He pointed at a girl with cinnamon-colored hair. I struggled to remember the names; the class was about three times as big as one back in Ohio. Mara, Rachelle, Ava, Joe, Joanna, John, the other John, Johnny, Scotty, Mary Elizabeth Ann (Why must she insist on being called that?!), Lori, Karee, Kory, Jones (As a first name?), Gordon, Filipe (Foreign exchange student; doesn't speak English. Just nod your head and pretend you know what he says.), Joyce, Mickey, Millie, Minnie, Milcie (Seriously?! What the heck kind of name is Milcie?! Of course, my name IS Tsarina Miwa.), Avery (boy), Avery (girl), Taylor (boy), Blake (girl), Dylan (hard to tell; could be either), Katrina, Mercedes, triplets named Gimli, Legolas, and Aragorn (Someone's parents are Lord of the Rings fans.), Kyle, Kylee, Marci, Deanne, Georgie, the twins Alicia and Alice (I know, right?), the twins Drake and Josh (Hmm. Wonder where that came from?) the evil boys Tanner, Chris, and Chandler, the wizard boy Aaron, and of course, Merlind. A total of 45 names to memorize, and there was a chance I'd have 45 different names to memorize next class. Whoop-de-doo. As I walk back to my seat, a spitball hits me in the back of the head. Oh, today is going to be so much fun.

I ended up having a total of 213 different classmates throughout the day, including freshmen and a few sophomores like April in my advanced classes, and I haven't even gone to seventh period! April wasn't in any of my classes, though. The sad part is there are still kids in my grade who I DON'T have classes with. The amount of students in one grade here could rival the amount of students in a whole junior high back home. Another odd thing was that eighth grade goes to the high school. Freaky. Even though I counted how many kids there were, I failed to remember more than a handful of names, of course, Merlind among them. Milcie as well is a name I recall. The name isn't the only weird thing about that child. Among other names I remember are the genderless Dylan, the Lord of the Rings triplets, and the Troublesome Trio, as I like to call them, plus wizard boy Aaron. I race to my last class, Algebra, counting the seconds on the blurring clocks flashing by. Five….four….three….two….Suddenly, a fire alarm-like bell echoes through the halls and vibrates the floor. I spat some colorful words and trudged the last three steps. My first Algebra equation, Order of Operations; Late Tsarina x Advanced Class / High School Teacher + Added Strictness – New Kid Benefit-Of-The=Doubt =?

I had three answers: 1. Mock Anger Warning 2. Detention Threat 3. Completely Unscathed Escape. I think I forgot to carry the negative sign on New Kid Benefit-Of-The-Doubt. Negative sign, as in non-existent variable I hopefully added only to discover the 6 was actually a 9 and New Kid Benefit-Of-The-Doubt is actually New Kid Incredibly-Suspicious-Doubt. The Algebra teacher, Ms. Live (If you are clever you will notice this is evil spelled backwards. Hint hint.), stood me in the front of the room and declared in a deep, booming, you-do-not-want-to-mess-with-me-I-run-out-of-deten tion-slips-faster-than-I-do-toilet-paper voice, "Ladies and gentlemen, or as I believe you are, hooligans and whores, this is our newest student slut, Tsarina Volkov."

I was shocked by the harsh language; the only time I had ever heard a word like that in the last few months was when Leo came very close to cutting of Splinter's foot. That was NOT pretty. The other students seems completely unfazed by the dirty words, except for a girl I'm positive is older than me, probably a sophomore. At my name, all drowsiness disappeared from her face as she looked up and stared intently at me. Once she noticed she was freaking me out (which she very much was), she gave a devious grin and returned her gaze downward, pulling out her phone. The girl was weird-looking, with half-black half-blonde hair and funky red eye makeup around her brown eyes. She sounded similar to Leo's description of Karai, but I immediately dismissed the thought. I snuck to the back of the room and slid into a seat next to Merlind and far away from that creepy girl. I made a mental note to keep a VERY close eye on that chick.

"I don't believe in using the first day to learn names and exchange pleasantries and learn more about each other." Ms. Live declared, "You are here to learn algebra, and algebra you shall learn. Many of you have been here multiple times, and if not, many of you will be. I do not teach an easy class, so expect your 'Straight A Student' notion to be crushed to bits. If you are willing to listen and can manage the simplest of math, then you will survive this class without much effort. However, if you think you can goof off and talk to your friends and text your 'boyfriends', then you will be condemned to the sixth letter of the alphabet for the rest of the year." Some of the sophomores start singing the alphabet song and ticking letters off on their fingers. Ms. Live ended her speech by stating, "There is a simple method to this class. You receive a book. I give you bookwork. You do bookwork and turn it in. Repeat process every day until the end of the year. Expect homework for every day over Christmas break and summer bookwork as well. If you are looking for an easy A, you are in the worst possible place." With that, she began a detailed explanation of two-step equations, scrawling illegible numbers and variables all over the whiteboard. Students frantically rushed to copy down her every word and writing, but I calmly watched and listened, filing the important bits I didn't know in an especially reserved section of my mind. Another benefit to having a spirit in your mind was they could file your memories for you, remove memories you want to forget, and recall memories you want to remember. In a way, it's like photographic memory. Her 'Straight A Student' speech didn't frighten me; I expected smooth sailing. I stifled a giggle when a freshman dropped his pencil and scrambled to get it, writing at double-speed to catch up.

I walked to my locker at the end of the day with a ten-pound math book and four pages worth of homework. Maybe I can claim my turtle ate my homework. With ease, I twirled the five-letter combo into my lock and swung open the door. The combo is LRDMS. Get it? At some point during the day I noticed Merlind's locker is across the hall from me. I frowned when I saw "The Blunderful Wizard of Gauze" was stamped on her locker door in all caps with Band-Aids. She came up from behind me and noticed her locker, I'm assuming. She showed no emotion toward it, but sullenly began peeling off the bandage letters one adhesive at a time. Quickly, I gathered by belongings in my olive backpack and started picking the 'E' in 'Gauze' off. By the time all the letters had come off and Merlind had grabbed her stuff, all but the last buses had left, and the bandages had left the message written in a lighter shade of grey on the metal. They must've done it earlier in the day.

As Merlind and I ran to catch her bus, she choked out, "Hey….Tsar….ina? Do….you think….maybe….I could….come….over to….your house….sometime?"

Here is what I had feared. Merlind wants to come over. I weighed my options. I could just flat out tell her no, but that would be cruel and I wanted to have at least ONE friend besides April and my mutant brothers. I could say that my parents have to know the other parents first, but then she might try to set something up for them to meet, and that would not go over well. I could say my house is a wreck, but there's a good chance she wouldn't care. I decided to go with an improbable option that popped into my head. "Why don't I come to your house?" I asked, stopping myself from continuously pausing. If I could just visit her place, everything would work out well.

She grimaced and replied quickly, "I would much rather prefer to come to yours?"

Time to use the horrible idea that could possibly work. "It's a tradition in Ohio to go to the house of the friend who wants to visit before you let them come to yours." I stated.

"Oh?" Merlind said, "Why's that?"

Think! Come on! Make up a stupid reason! "Because….you….you have to see….what a person's….house is like….before you let them into yours?" I answered. Yeah yeah! Go with that! I added, "It is said that the house is a reflection of a person's character and upbringing. I could never let someone into my home before visiting theirs first. It would be disrespectful and rude."

"Hmm. I did a project on Ohio and this custom never came up." Merlind stated. I remained silent. "Are you sure I can't come over to your place?" she pleaded.

"Yes.", I replied, sounding a bit harsher than I wanted to, "It is common Ohio manners."

Merlind started to climb the steps of her bus, the stopped and sighed. "Alright." She relented, "If you really have to." She quickly drew out a Post-It note and a marker and scrawled her address and phone number on it. She peeled it off its pad and stuck it on my forehead before climbing onto the bus. The driver shut the doors and sped off. Merlind waved to me through the window, the marker still in her hand. I grinned and waved back.

I have a friend!

**I'm so sorry this chapter took so long, but my Algebra teacher is relentless with homework, though she is definitely nowhere NEAR as bad as Ms. Live is. If you are for some incredibly odd reason reading this, Ms. Difford and/or Mr. Donaldson, know that neither of you was the root for this character. Ms. Live is a complete figment of my imagination of what the bitchiest teacher would be like.**


	4. Chapter 4

**The new cover picture is courtesy of my good friend Rebekah, who's alright for not being a turtle fan. She drew this with nothing to go on but a few details, little things like brown hair, forest green knives, and a pink shirt with peach curlicues. Alright, Rebekah! This chapter's for you. :)**

Splinter had okayed the visit to Merlind's, as long as I took my moroha and made sure to be careful. I was happy for the enormity of my mother's purse; it's just barely long enough to lay sheathed tanto inconspicuously on the bottom. I piled things like my T-phone and my calculator over it, praying I wouldn't have any need of them. I took a cab with April; apparently Merlind lives on the same road as her.

"So," April asked as the taxi chugged along, "What's this Merlin girl like?"

"Merlind." I corrected, enunciating the'd', "She's nice. Kinda shy. Made fun of a lot. People call her the Blunderful Wizard of Gauze."

"Yikes. Poor girl. The name Merlind means 'weak.' I had to do a project on name meanings. Tsarina means 'empress.' Miwa means 'peace.' Volkov means 'wolf.'" April stated.

"Empress Peace Wolf." I said, rolling it around in my mouth, "Definitely pretty weird." She and I laughed as the cab pulled up to April's aunt's building. I slipped the driver a ten and didn't bother to try to get change back. One thing I have learned in my short time in New York is that getting change from a cabby is like getting a kid to give his Christmas presents to Goodwill. Impossible, unreasonable, and WAY more trouble than it's worth.

I walked a few blocks through the New Yorker herd and stopped before the address Merlind had gave me. Before me sat The Little Hands; Little Hearts Orphanage, a tall cream colored building that resembles a mix between a courthouse and a Greek acropolis. I checked the address she wrote. 649 Main Street. I looked at the house number engraved on the pole. 649. Hmph. I looked at the number next door. 946. Relief swept over me; Merlind must've got the numbers backwards.

"It might be cool to live next to an orphanage." I thought as I walked up to Merlind's door, "You would certainly have no shortage of friends." I knocked on the door, which was opened by a man of about twenty with dark brown hair and eyes.

"If you're trying to sell me something, I don't wanna know." He said blandly, preparing to shut the door, "Try the orphanage, though. They'll always buy candy bars and cookies and crap. If one of their kids isn't selling it already, that is. It's hard to compete with those orphanage kids; everyone sympathizes with them, especially when they put on their 'I need this money for a new winter jacket and if I don't sell this many whatevers I won't get dinner today oh boo hoo woe is me'."

I stuck my foot between the door and its frame, ignoring the pain. "Is Merlind home?" I quickly asked, silently begging him to open the door just a tiny bit more.

"Sorry, I don't know any Merlin's." he replied, trying to work my foot out of the door. I removed my foot and left. It was obvious she didn't live there if he couldn't say her name right.

I tried the house on the orphanage's other side, and a man of about sixty gave me a similar answer, also mispronouncing Merlind. I tried the house across the street, the house on the other side of the street, five houses in either direction, all answering no and all but one saying her name wrong.

Finally, feeling slightly defeated, I knocked on the door of the orphanage. A short, stout woman of roughly thirty-five answered it, looking me over as if to see if I was a drop-off kid who wasn't wanted. "There wouldn't happen to be a girl named Merlind here, would there?" I asked in an 'I'm guessing there is but I'm hoping she just volunteers here or possibly you're her mom so she has to live here' tone.

The woman cupped her hands around her mouth and called like you might a cow, "Mer-LIND!" The woman then vanished, leaving me staring at what looked to be an office of sorts. Then in the doorway appeared a girl. A white-blond, ice-eyed, wizardly girl named Merlind.

"Now do you realize why I wanted so bad to come to your house?" she asked me, shutting the door behind me.

I nodded, feeling so horribly guilty that I couldn't have her over at my house.

She led me down a hallway with names written on the doors in pink and blue in accordance to the gender. Toward the end of the hall, she stopped before a door labeled, "Merlind Jolie June Macy" all in pink. She turned the knob and ushered me in.

Four beds sat side by side in the room, with barely a strip of walking room between them. To give you an idea of how big the room was the left edge of the left bed to the right edge of the right bed was the width of the room. We five average five-and-a-half foot girls could probably lie down in a line as the length. The ceiling was low enough that the shortest of us could touch the top on her tippy toes. It was all painted such a pale pink that you had to be close enough to touch your nose to the wall to detect color. There was one window above the space between the middle beds, with creamy satiny curtains drawn to the sides. The sunshine lit the shiny hardwood. One poster each hung above the girls' beds as a way of identification, as the bedspread, sheets, and pillowcases were all the same variants of rose pink.

The far left bed was topped by an image of a bookcase with various-colored books. Some of the books had names printed in pen on the spines, others didn't. A thick novel sat on the pillow with a small clip-on book light attached. This bed was Merlind's.

The next bed over had a poster of sports balls; basketballs, soccer balls, tennis balls, softballs, baseballs, even balls from lacrosse. An assortment of elbow pads, knee pads, wrist pads, helmets, and other protective gear perched precariously on the headboard. A baseball bat sat at the foot of the bed. This bed belonged to Jolie.

The third bed was adorned with a picture of a crystal ball with lavender smoke swirling in it. If one looked close enough, you could see a hint of an image, then you shift your view, and it vanishes. A fortune-telling eight-ball sat on the covers, along with a smoking stick of what I assumed was sage, a scroll covered in words that made little sense, and a book on superstitions and sorcery. The mystical bed was June's.

Last but not least was a bed with a poster of Bambi above it, with his little friends Thumper and Flower. A stuffed deer perched on the bed next to a stuffed bird and a Winnie the Pooh toy. A good foot away from the bottom of the bed had perfectly made covers, as if the occupant wasn't tall enough to reach, and a flowery night light was plugged into the wall. Macy was the bed's owner.

Merlind introduced to me to her roommates; everyone but Macy is the same age as us. Jolie said she went to a school with better sports programs. Macy went to the same school as Merlind and I but was two grades below. As for June, it is very difficult to get a direct answer out of her; she speaks in a roundabout riddle way that humorously reminded me of Yoda.

I hung out with them for a while, chatting about normal stuff, before my tongue slipped and I asked Merlind why she was here.

"This is an orphanage." Merlind answered somberly, "You come here if your parents are dead and no other family members will take you." I stared embarrassedly at the ground, wanting to press further but knowing it would be rude.

Jolie saved me from my predicament by saying, "I think she wants to know how your parents died, Lin."

Quickly, I exclaimed, "Its okay! You don't have to tell me!"

With a sigh, Merlind said, "No, I don't mind. It might do me some good to tell someone what happened." She took a deep breath and recounted her tale, "My parents died when I was about three, so I knew them, if only barely. My only living grandparent, my mom's mom Grammy, had invited them to a party, so I'm told. I was left with an uncle who treated me like dirt. I'm positive a lot of money changed hands to get him to watch me, but he was my only other relative alive. My mom was an only child, and my dad a twin. Anyway, at this party, they were serving this fancy kind of Japanese fish called the Fugu. It's very special because if prepared wrong, it is highly poisonous. Only top chefs are allowed to prepare it. Well, the chef hired at the party was apparently not as top notch as he claimed to be, and he served the liver, the tastiest yet most poisonous organ, wrong. The poison paralyzes you and if not treated, you die from suffocation. 911 got there in time to help a lot of the people, everyone but my mom, my dad, and Granny. Of course, my uncle didn't want me, so now I'm here." Merlind frowned and spat, "I will never, ever, EVER eat fish. EVER."

In a way to cheer up Merlind, the other girls explained how their parents died. Jolie's passed from one of the plane crashes in 9/11. June's parents went mad and killed themselves. She believes they were possessed, which is the reason she is so spiritual and superstitious. Macy's overdosed on drugs. By the end of all their stories, I was brimming with tears. On an impulse, I told them my life from the time of my kidnapping to present-day, skipping around the parts about mutants and spirits, characterizing them like average humans. They gasped in sync at the death of my mom and my revelations about my dad and laughed at my taunting names toward Shredder. They booed when Shredder nearly caught me and cheered when we defeated him. Their stories and emotions made me feel as though my life was merely a bump in the road compared to theirs.

When I was leaving the orphanage, another impulse racked me and before I could change my mind, I called, "Merlind!"

She turned around and looked at me.

"You'll come to my house next time!"

She grinned and vanished down the hall.

**There truly is a Japanese fish that is considered a delicacy but is extremely poisonous. It is really called the Fugu, and you really do have to be a master chef just to cook one.**


	5. Chapter 5

I led Merlind through the halls and out the front door.

"Shouldn't we be going the other way if we're going to catch your bus?" she asked.

"My house is close enough to walk to." I replied, quickly looking both ways before darting across the street.

I had promised Merlind that today I would take her to my house. Today she could meet my mom and my dad and my four adopted brothers.

Once my feet hit the sidewalk again, I pulled out my iPod and quickly texted Donnie, "If I tell you something will you promise not to kill me?"

"Unless you're secretly a Kraang mutant who's been trying to kill us for the past few months, then probably not." He answered.

I smiled and quickly texted back, "Alright. Wait a moment."

I speedily scaled the wall, leaving Merlind far behind. She soon jogged up to the grey brick.

"Where'd you go?" she asked, scanning the alley confusedly, "Why are we in an alley, anyway? Are your parents thugs?"

"I went up here, the alley is the quickest way to my house, and no, my parents are not thugs." I stated from atop my concrete perch.

Merlind glanced up and whined, "How am I supposed to get up there?"

"Climb." I replied, "Jump. Teleport. Fly. How should I know?"

Merlind growled and scrabbled partway up the wall, digging her fingernails into the mortar. Her nails emitted a horrid screeching sound as she slowly slid back down.

"I can't get up!" She cried.

I rolled my eyes. "Not like that, dumdum!" I shouted, pointing to a makeshift staircase made out of boxes and other assorted alley junk, "Use those!"

"Ohhh." Merlind said. She hopped up the wobbly stairs onto the top of the wall. She waved her arms frantically as she tried to keep her balance, before clinging to the wall for dear life. Tentatively, she peered over the other side and asked, "Where's the other one?"

"There is no other one." I replied. In one swift motion, I flipped off the wall and landed poised on a ratty mattress.

Merlind gaped at me and yelled, "You can't expect me to do that!"

"C'mon! it's just like a balance beam!" I said using the exact words Raph did to get me off there the first time, "You SAID you were a gymnast."

"A gymnast, not a psychopath!" she cried, sinking her fingernails deep into the dusty adhesive that stuck the brick together.

At that moment, my iPod dinged. It was Donnie. "Were you going to tell me something, or was that a question for future reference?" he asked.

"Hold on. Trying to get friend off wall." I replied, staring up at the terrified Merlind.

"Do I want to know?" he said.

"Human stuff." I answered.

"Yeah, okay." He said, "Whatever you say."

I shouted up to Merlind, "My brother says you're gonna have to come down at one point or another!"

"I much rather prefer it was another!" she replied.

With an angry snort, I searched around for something to make her get down. A ladder with several splintered rungs caught my eye. I dragged it out of its junk heap and propped it up against the wall.

"You can come down now!" I coaxed, "There's a ladder!"

After a lot of prompting and arm-twisting, I managed to get her down the ladder. I told her to wait by a rusted dumpster.

"Okay, brace yourself." I texted Donnie.

"I've been braced for twenty minutes." He replied, "Just tell me already so I can get on with my life."

"I kinda sorta maybe mighta invited a friend to my house." I said, waiting anxiously for his reply.

"Now why on Earth did you do that?" he answered, "You know he/she/it can't. Call it off."

"Please, Donnie!" I pleaded, "She won't tell a soul, I swear!"

"Call it off!" he replied, "Seriously, what makes you think a teenage girl is going to want to hang out with a girl who has mutant brothers, a mutant father, and a ghost mom? Is this the same girl you visited yesterday?"

"Yeah." I answered.

"Why can't you just go to her house again?" he asked.

"She lives in an orphanage, Donnie." I stated, "Who is she going to tell?"

"Other orphans." He replied.

"They'd never believe her!" I exclaimed.

"What if she took pictures?" he asked.

I texted angrily, "Stop being paranoid!"

"Zina, this isn't a little thing like being shy, this is a life or death situation!" he replied, the aggravation visible through the type, "You met this girl, what, two days ago, and you're willing to entrust her with our biggest secret?! Think, Zina!"

"Donnie, I will make sure she doesn't get a single picture. I'll take her phone, even!" I said, "Just please let her come down!"

"It's not my decision to make." He replied.

"Then ask Splinter." I texted.

"What is taking so long?" Merlind asked, "Are we going to your house or what?"

Nervously, I said, "Yeah, well, I kinda didn't tell my parents or brothers that I was having a friend over."

"Really, Tsarina!" she cried.

My pod beeped, and the latest text from Donnie appeared in a bubble. "Splinter okayed it." It read, "I have no idea how you got him to."

I beckoned to Merlind and said, "C'mon. Let's go."

I stood over the manhole closest to the lair. "Merlind, I'm gonna have to ask you for your phone." I said, holding out my hand.

"What? Why?!" she asked, clutching her book bag.

"You can't take any pictures of my family, or text anyone about them." I said aloud.

"Besides, one of them won't show up on film, and the other five are the kings of hiding." I thought. A piece of advice: never play hide-and-seek with ninjas. You will lose.

"Why so?" she asked, "Are they afraid of cameras or something?"

I harshly demanded, "Merlind, if you do not want to go back this very second, I suggest you hand over your phone and trust that I will take good care of it."

Grumbling the whole while, Merlind finally handed over her phone, an old flip phone from the nineteenth century. I zipped her phone into a side pocket of my backpack and plucked the manhole cover off its hole with ease. Quickly, I slinked down the metal ladder and brushed the bottom of my shoe against slimy cement, which was pretty clean by sewer standards.

"No way in heck am I going down there!" she cried.

"Well that's too bad," I said sing-songily, dangling her little flip phone by its hinges, "Because I have your phone."

I held it over the river of sewer sludge and threateningly removed one finger from it.

"You wouldn't dare." Merlind snarled.

In response, I detached another finger. Now the phone hung precariously from my ring and pinky fingers. I dropped the phone, only to quickly catch it between my middle finger and thumb.

Merlind slid down the ladder. "You are quite evil, you know that." She stated, going for her phone.

I moved out of the way and caught her by the back of her shirt only inches away from the sewage stream coursing beneath her nose. "I'm well aware of this." I whispered, swinging her back onto the cement.

I quickly strode along the pathway, while Merlind ballerina-hopped from patch to patch. She would balance on her toe for a few seconds before leaping to another spot that she assumed was clean. Silly Merlind. You're in a sewer; the whole thing is dirty! Eventually, we reached the turnstiles in front of the lair; I frequently had to pause to let Merlind catch up with her little bunny hop.

"Promise me that whatever you see here you will not tell to another living soul." I said.

"I swear." Merlind stated, crossing her heart with three fingers, "Girl Scout's Honor."

I peeked around the cement wall connected to one of the turnstiles. "Make yourself decent, guys." I called loudly, "We have company!"

"Oh, is April here?" Mikey asked from his beanbag.

"No, it's not April." I said, motioning to Merlind behind my back, "Mikey, this is my friend Merlind."

Mikey stared wide-eyed at me and Merlind before bursting out laughing. "Nice try, Z!" he cried, "You've probably got Tang Shen creating that girl or something!"

"Turtle…." Merlind said faintly, "Your brother is a turtle…." She blinked once and stared with a glazed look in Mikey's general direction. Mikey returned Merlind's stare. With slow, jerky movements, Merlind waved at Mikey.

"Merlind, Michelangelo. Michelangelo, Merlind." I said, gesturing from Merlind to Mikey to Merlind again.

"Tsarina," Merlind asked, "Am I hallucinating, or is one of your brothers a giant turtle man?"

"Not one of them, all of them." I said forlornly, praying that she wouldn't faint or flip out or have to be put in a mental ward for the rest of her life.

"Are they FRIENDLY turtle men?" she asked, slowly moving behind me.

"The friendliest there is." I declared, "Isn't that right, Mikey?"

"Of course!" he exclaimed.

Suddenly, Donnie entered the room. He spotted Merlind and said to me, "I see you got her off the wall."

"Somehow." I stated, causing Merlind to blush vividly, "Merlind, this is Donnie."

Merlind continued with her deer-in-the-headlights stare, prompting Donnie to ask, "Am I really that scary?"

"Meep." Merlind squeaked.

The same process was repeated as Leo, Raph, and Splinter entered the room. But Shen materialized behind Merlind and me. I silently conveyed to her what had happened.

She glanced at something off to her left and mentally asked, "Did you bring just one friend?"

I quietly looked at what Tang Shen was looking at. Standing on the other side of the sewers was the same creepy sophomore from Algebra, the one with the red makeup. "What is she doing here?" I thought, observing her curiously. She had on black clothing under silvery pieces of armor. She wore a silver mask that covered her face from the nose down, and a dagger was belted on her hip. I silently rifled around in my bag for my moroha and pulled them out, still wearing their sheaths. I clipped them onto my belt. That was when I realized Merlind had probably left the manhole open. This girl must've followed us down. She caught sight of me looking at her, and her decorated eyes narrowed.

I thought to Shen, "Can you set up a mental link with me and Leo?"

"Most certainly." She answered. Her thought became faint and muddled as a new onslaught of thinkings mixed with my mind.

"Leo?" I thought.

"Spikette!" he mentally exclaimed, "Why the heck are you in my head?! I thought only Shen could do that!"

"Apparently not. Hey, does this girl look anything like that Karai you were talking about?" I replied, sending him an image of this girl.

"That's her!" he thought, "Where did you see her?"

"Um, right across the hall." I said.

"When?" he asked.

"Now." I thought back.

"Now?! You mean she's here?!" he cried.

Nervously, I thought, "What makes this such a bad thing? You said she was neutral."

"Towards me, maybe, towards Splinter, no way!" he replied worriedly, "Besides, after the incident with the missile launcher, she probably hates me, too."

"What do we do?!" I thought, "What CAN we do?"

"I don't know." He muttered silently, emanating confliction. So soft that I had to strain to hear and Karai definitely couldn't have heard, Leo whispered, "Karai is here."

"KARAI?!" Mikey cried.

"SHH!" Leo exclaimed, holding a finger to his lips.

"Karai?!" Mikey cried, this time softer.

"She's on the other side of the sewer." I stated, "She's just been watching us this whole time." I glanced nervously over my shoulder; Karai was jumping across the sewer. "But now she's coming over here!" I added.

"Oh my God what do we do?!" Mikey shrieked.

"What else can we do but beat the girl to smithereens?" Raph asked, twirling a sai, "I call first hit."

"Tsarina, get yourself and Merlind somewhere safer." Splinter stated, "Do not panic."

"Hai, Sensei." I said, rushing off with Merlind.

"What's going on?" Merlind asked, "Who is Karai?"

"You remember that weird sophomore from Algebra?" I said.

"The one with the red eyes?" she asked.

"That's the one." I replied, "Well, turns out she's the daughter of this Japanese man who wanted my brothers and dad dead, but now he's dead, because my brothers and dad and I were responsible for his death, so now there's a good chance she wants us all dead."

I flicked open the door to Splinter's room and shoved Merlind inside. I followed her in and shut the door behind me. Merlind backed against the far wall and I drew my moroha.

"You have knives?!" she asked.

In response, I twisted my blade so that the candlelight shimmered off it.

Merlind nodded and gulped. "I see." She stated.

Through my mental link with Tang Shen, I watched the events going on through her eyes.

Tsarina

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/

Tang Shen

"Why are you here, Karai?" Leonardo asked, "What do you want?"

"Don't get your shell in a twist, Leo. It's not you I'm here for." Karai replied sassily.

"Then who are you here for?" Donatello asked, "Cuz if its Master Splinter, then you can't have him, and you won't get him."

"It's not him, either." Karai answered.

"Is it me you want, Karai?" I asked her.

She looked around, seemingly puzzled.

"I am over here." I stated.

Karai looked at me and said confusedly, "Who are you?"

"My name is Tang Shen." I declared.

She gasped and blinked twice. Then, she resumed her calm demeanor. "Whatever." She said emotionlessly, "I'm not looking for you, either."

"Then who is it you seek, Karai?" I asked.

"I 'seek' that little brat, Tsarina." She spat, "I tried all summer to forget about what had happened and accept that Father had committed suicide. Inside, I still hated you for it, and mainly, that little girl who was the reason of his death. I was happy school was starting because it would take my mind off things, but lo and behold, that annoying Tsarina now goes to my school! I have had it! I didn't want revenge, I didn't want to take up my father's vendetta, but that girl is a walking reminder of pain!"

Yoshi interrupted her, saying, "Tsarina has no quarrel with you, Karai."

"Well, I do." She spat, "Where is she? The coward is probably hiding in her room, crying to her teddy about how much she misses her mommy."

"I'm right here, Karai." Tsarina's voice stated aloud. She stood in the mouth of the dojo, a moroha in each hand.

"You." Karai snarled.

"Me." Tsarina admitted.

"Demon spawn." Karai hissed in Japanese, leaving Tsarina confused as to what had been said. I mentally whispered a translation, and she growled.

"What did I ever do to you?" she asked.

"Hmm, let me see, you killed my father." Karai growled, "You invaded my home. You ruined my life."

"As if my life doesn't have its problems." Tsarina replied with an eye-roll.

"At least you have parents." Karai said.

"At least the parents you once had weren't abusive like my adoptive ones were." Tsarina retorted.

Karai crossed the distance between her and Tsarina and placed the flat of her blade against her neck.

"Tomorrow….Wednesday, right?" she said.

Tsarina nodded, the metal rubbing her skin.

"You have until the end of the week to get yourself out of that school." Karai stated, "If I see you there on Monday, well, let me just say you better start sleeping with your knives under your pillow." Karai stuffed her dagger into its sheath and stalked off, leaving all of us to stare after her.

Tsarina asked, "So, what other options are there for public schools?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Instead of focusing on AHM only, I have decided to attempt (attempt being the key word here) updating both stories at once. So if you notice that one story or the other hasn't had any chapters for a few days, I'm most likely working on the other one. There's no schedule as to which story I work on other than my inspiration. I do not own TMNT or**

I tried my best to keep my cool, but inside I knew I was on the verge of a breakdown. Tang Shen gazed at me with concern, fear and worry evident in her ghostly brown eyes. Splinter gripped the top of his cane so hard his pinky knuckles turned white. Donnie's green skin had slightly paled, turning his complexion from a medium olive to a pale bottle green. His brown-red eyes nervously watched the spot where Karai had been, as if she would reappear at any moment. Leo stared at his feet, looking ashamed. Of what, I wasn't sure. Mikey reminded me of a bunny rabbit, the way he had tensed up, like he would dart away at the slightest noise. Raph was clutching his sai tightly, every bone in his body seemingly wanting to chase Karai down and shred her to bits for threatening his little sister. Merlind was her normal paleness, her baby blue eyes obscured by her dilated pupil.

She walked up to me and murmured, "Tsarina, can I please go home now?"

I snapped out of my frightened phase and replied, "Yeah. I'll take you home. It's not too far from here."

"Tsarina, I do not believe that is such a good idea." Splinter stated.

"Yeah, Karai could ambush you." Mikey said, "Or the Kraang. Or the Rat King!"

"You're being paranoid. Karai said she wouldn't touch me until Monday, so I'm all good." I declared, "Besides, I'm gonna take my tanto."

Splinter was not convinced. He looked at me with his stern gaze.

"I'll be fine, Master Splinter." I said, "Just let me take Merlind home. You wouldn't want her to get jumped, would you?"

"No, but neither do I want you being attacked!" he exclaimed.

"Then Shen can come with me!" I retorted, "Please let me take her! Please!"

Splinter sighed and flicked his wrist in a way that I knew meant, "Alright. You win. Now go before I change my mind."

"Yay! Victory is mine!' I cheered, practically skipping out of the room. I had managed to persuade Master Splinter in less than five minutes! My skills are getting better.

Merlind stood inside of the orphanage door, me on the staircase outside. "Your family's pretty interesting." She stated.

"What gave it away? The turtle brothers, the rodent dad, or the spirit mom?" I asked teasingly.

"None of the above." She answered, "It was the fact that you live in the sewer. I may never touch you again."

In response, I wrapped her up in a tight hug. "Augh!" she shrieked, "Turtle cooties!"

I laughed and loosened my grip to let her escape. "Thanks for trusting me, Tsarina." She said.

"You can never tell ANYBODY. Not even your best friend in the whole wide world." I ordered.

"My best friend in the whole wide world already knows." She said with a slight smile.

My eyes narrowed. "Merlind!" I exclaimed, "I told you not to tell anyone! How does she know?! I took your phone!"

"She knows because she's their sister." She answered, "By the way, can I have my phone back now?"

I tossed her her phone and waved goodbye. She smiled and shut the door. "Your friend is very sweet." Tang Shen stated.

"Indeed." I replied.

I decided to take the long way home; it would give me time to think. I don't want to change schools again; it was enough of a hassle to get into the first one without a parent present. Besides, I'm already the new girl, and I don't really want to go through that again. I don't want to leave Merlind either.

Though, I don't really want to have to watch out 24/7 for attacks from Karai. Being the new girl would be better than death by dagger. Merlind would understand; she saw what happened.

My jumbled thoughts were interrupted by Tang Shen. "It does not seem as if you need my protection, and we are within a mile of the lair." She mumbled tiredly, "Would you mind if I went back?"

"Go for it." I replied.

She ghost-grinned and removed herself from the recesses of my mind. I saw a hazy figure of a woman and a purple kitsune a little bigger than a Pomeranian float down the sidewalk.

I reached a two way turn. To the left was the lair, very close by. To the right was the long, winding path to the docks. I'm a decently fast runner; fast enough to be in cross country if I wanted to but slow enough that I would be close to last all the time. Splinter and the turtles didn't know where Merlind lived, so they didn't know how long it would take to get there and back. On an impulse decision, I jogged down the path to the dock.

The second my feet hit the brackish dock wood, I was greeted by the call of the nearby lighthouse. Flashing ship lights blinked across the water as they jetted back and forth. The satin black sky had been generously sprinkled with twinkling stars. I immediately picked out my favorite constellation, Orion, the hunter. Using my finger, I drew lines between the stars to connect Orion. I imagined him running across the sky with his astrophysical hound dogs behind him and his starry bow in hand, hunting the astral bear Ursa Major and the stellar swan Cygnus. As I searched for Ursa Minor, a long shadowed member caught my eye. At first I thought it was a tree limb, but it was pointy at the end and had no twigs branching off it. Suddenly, it twitched and retreated through the sky. I followed it back to its owner. A black and red figure with four of these pointed arms above its head was poised on the top of the marina. A random light began to pulsate behind it. I caught glimpses of sickly-looking jade claws on the end of the feelers, ivory fangs within a huge gaping maw, and a multitude of beady black and red eyes. Its little eyes scanned the boatyard until they reached me. The eyes narrowed and the creature started forward.

At this point, I realized I had overstayed my welcome, if I had even had a welcome. I slung my purse over my shoulder and took off, simultaneously digging through my purse to find my moroha. A long arm barred my path, but I didn't notice. I ran into it headlong, the spindly red and black arm dealing me a painful blow to the gut. As I curled up in ache, the tall creature approached me.

"What do you want?" I moaned.

"I could ask the same to you." it replied in a deep snarly voice that I knew belonged to a guy, "This area has been abandoned for years on end."

It moved its arm out of my way, accidentally rubbing my back with some of its hairs. It hissed and hopped backward.

"What?" I asked.

"You! You smell like the wretched things that did this to me! Those disgusting frogs!" he yelped.

"F-frogs?" I said with nervous naïveté.

"Frogs, turtles, lizards, whatever. I'd recognize that stench anywhere." It growled, "Those kung-fu frogs could've made me a fortune, but they broke my phone and turned me into this spider monster!"

I recalled Mikey mentioned a Spider Bytez, a jerk named Vic who videotaped them with his Smartphone and tried to sell the video to the Kraang. The adjectives used to describe him were retarded, idiotic, and smart mouthed. He had been mutated into a giant spider that was speedy for his size. I remembered him saying Spider Bytez had a mouth big enough to swallow any of the turtles whole, wicked sharp claws, a sharp tongue, and one other thing I couldn't remember.

"Y'know, I probably should be getting back." I declared, starting to fastwalk casually away, "My parents will be wondering where I am."

Spider Bytez once again tried to bar my way, but I bounded over his single arm. Now I was full on running. He blocked my path again with all four of his feelers stacked in a tall, thick wall. I couldn't possibly jump over them, and he would be able to stop me before I could get around them. I reluctantly screeched to a halt and stared at the spider, looking what I hoped was fearful, but feeling more annoyed.

"Are you some kind of spy or something?" he demanded, "Did those slimy reptiles send you to finish me off?"

Applying a fake nervous stutter, I squeaked, "I-I d-d-don't kn-kn-know any t-turt-turtles." Without taking my eyes off the monstrous arachnid, I began scooting away.

The point of one of Spider Bytez's arms rested on my forehead. One twitch and it would've drawn blood. "I think you're lying." He snarled.

Just that moment, my iPod started playing Raph's ringtone, United by Judas Priest, in honor of the night I nearly blinded Dogpound and first truly met 'Echo'. Spider Bytez slightly moved his claw back as I scrabbled in my purse for the device. Just as I grabbed it it flew from my hand, bouncing on the ground with its Otterbox. The contact picture stared at me from the screen. Spike was chewing on a leaf, as always, looking up caringly at the mutant whose shoulder he was sitting on. Raph was slightly smiling as he patted Spike's little head in what I thought was the most adorable picture ever. Spider Bytez glared at me, hate and fury filling his reddish black bead eyes.

In one swift motion, Spider Bytez stomped on my iPod and crushed it to bits, Otterbox and all. He grinned evilly.

"Why would you do that?" I shouted.

"That's what those turtles did to my phone." He spat, maintaining his malicious grin, "But the better question to ask would be what am I gonna do to YOU."

He took one step toward me and I bolted, my feet slapping on the concrete. Spider Bytez rolled in front of me. I turned around and tried again. Once more he blocked my way. With a silver flash and a metallic hiss, I drew my moroha and stood in a fighting position.

"Ooh, look at your cutesy little butter knives." He said sarcastically, "They go perfectly with those froggy's salad tongs!"

I growled and gripped the hilts tighter. You can insult me, you can insult my knives, but mess with my brothers, and you can be sure to lose a limb or two. And this guy's got eight. Hehehe.

I backed away slowly and spun my tanto by their handles. Wheels of hoary silver whipped in circles beside me.

"Does little girlie think she can stand up to me?" Spider Bytez taunted, "What are you gonna do, give me cooties?"

With a short, quick snarl and some skillful running, I crossed the distance I had retreated and swiped at his leg. He moved away, and I gave him only the tiniest nick.

"Oh no! Don't give me a paper cut!" he shrieked, laughing.

I whirled around and sank my knife deep in his leg, far enough that its tip protruded from the other side. I missed his bone and any major muscles (Bummer.), but he howled in pain and kicked me away. He hit me in the stomach, the exact spot where he had struck me earlier. I soared through the air and landed with gymnast's grace. Spider Bytes tugged my now-bloodied blade out of his leg and hurled it clumsily at me. I easily caught the drippy handle, though the colorless spider blood made it quite slippery. Spider Bytez looked at me with a hint of respect.

"I see you know kung-fu too." He stated.

"It's not kung-fu; it's an ancient Japanese battle art." I replied, quoting Donnie.

He rolled his eyes (though it was difficult to tell) and stared at me viciously. "You sound just like that scrawny turtle." He spat, adding a demonic grin at the end, "But your little frog friends aren't here to save you now, are they?"

I immediately regretted letting Tang Shen leave. I reached out through our mental connection, but only heard the faint buzzing of her thoughts. It must be too far a distance. The turtles, Splinter, and Tang Shen had absolutely no idea where I was. Once again, I am screwed. S-C-R-E-W-E-D.

In a desperate escape attempt, I sprinted toward the path. Spider Bytez casually reached down a red and black arm and snatched me up. He held me at eye level and tightened his grip around my waist.

"Now where are you going? The fun has just begun!" he exclaimed. He changed from a fake happy tone to one of dark seriousness. "I'm gonna crush you like a phone."

With that, he hurled me against the marina, my bones cracking but surprisingly not fracturing. My fingernails shrieked as I slowly slid down the building's side. Miraculously, a wooden structure stood below me, attached to the marina. I landed on it with a muffled thud. My limbs ached as if I had been hooked into a medieval stretcher device. I pushed myself onto my feet and looked over the edge of my precarious perch. My tummy flipped. There was no way I could survive a jump from that distance. Wooden latticework went down the structure's side. I nervously fitted my foot into the triangular notch and slowly began inching downward. Spider Bytez's thumping steps vibrated the wood. I had only gotten three steps down before disgusting goo splattered the back of my calf. It immediately began burning horribly. I scrambled back up the side and looked at my searing leg. Yellowy acid was piled on my leg. That was the other thing he could do; spit acid. I tried to rapidly scrape it off, but I only ended up burning my fingers too. Another spit, and acidic spit covered by other thigh. I screamed loudly.

"It burns!" I shrieked.

Spider Bytez laughed evilly.

Once more he hit me with the goo, this time on my arm and side. I couldn't take it. Even though I knew it would hurt, I gave myself a running start and leapt into the water. The impact stung but quickly washed away the acid and cooled the burns. I paddled poorly over to the dock and rolled myself onto it. I lied on the dock back down, staring at the stars, blurry specks through my pained tears. I felt the dock vibrate as Spider Bytez drew closer.

"So this is how it ends." I thought.


	7. Chapter 7

**This chapter starts from Donnie's POV. Just warning you so no one gets confused, this starts somewhere around the point Spider Bytez crushes Tsarina's phone.**

Raph snarled and clamped tightly to his T-phone. He angrily threw it on the ground, picked it back up, and rapidly recalled the number. For the third time the phone rang and rang and rang for infinity until Raph ended the call.

"She's not answering!" he exclaimed.

"Well no duh." Mikey stated, "We've been here the whole time, y'know."

Raph glared venomously at Mikey and once again called the number. This time the phone cut straight to the chase and declared in a monotonous robotic female voice, "The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected. Please try again."

"I just don't get it!" Raph yelled as he hung up, "Why would it say it's disconnected?"

"Maybe the orphanage doesn't get cell service." Mikey suggested.

"Very unlikely." I replied, "Besides, if she had no cell service, it would say 'The number cannot be reached.' or 'The number is out of range.'"

Leo interrupted my spiel, "That still doesn't explain why it says her number is disconnected."

"I'll check my laptop." I declared, running to get my 'mishmash of a computer', as Raph called it.

"What does it know?" Raph asked, "It's a hunk of junk held together by wire, glue, and willpower."

"Shellbrain. I can use it to find where Tsarina's iPod is, and in turn, her." I stated, keying in my series of passwords, "I should be able to track it through GPS."

I hit the enter key and the little asterisk-like loading symbol whirled around momentarily on my screen. A cream colored map with red roads and blue lakes slowly spread across the screen. A little orange pushpin bounces up and down on the iPod's location.

"She's at the old abandoned dock on the other end of the street." I stated, "I wonder why."

"OOH! Can we be like spies and listen in on her?!" Mikey exclaimed.

"Shut up, Mikey. We're not being spies." Raph spat.

"Actually, I COULD hear through her iPod. And see her." I corrected.

"Don't encourage him!" Raph hissed under his breath.

It was too late. Mikey's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Oh, can we can we can we?" he begged, "Pretty pretty PRETTY please!"

"Eh…." I said.

"Pretty please with algae and worms on top?!" he pleaded.

I sighed and moaned, "Fine." I quickly hacked the iPod and connected my laptop to her speaker. The second I did, an earsplitting smash burst through the speakers and the screen went blank.

At first I wondered if my laptop had internally exploded, but then I heard Zina's high voice shout, "Why would you do that?"

"That's what those turtles did to my phone." A deep voice replied, ominously pausing, "But the better question to ask would be what am I gonna do to YOU."

"Vic." Raph snarled, wringing the handle of one of his sai in his hands, "He must've crushed her pod through that Beaverbox."

"Otterbox!" I corrected.

"Whatever!" he retorted.

I shouted, "Shhh!"

"Shhh!" he yelled, pointing at my blackened laptop screen.

A loud thumping step and the slap of Tsarina's feet on water-soaked concrete echoed through the amplifier. A strange rolling noise, followed by more concrete-slap steps, and yet another rolling noise. The hiss of drawn knives and the adjustment of a body into fighting position.

Vic's voice teased maliciously, "Ooh, look at your cutesy little butter knives! They go perfectly with that froggy's salad tongs!"

Raph grumbled something about tearing Vic's head off.

Tsarina growled. Slow retreating steps and the whirling of metal filtered through the loudspeaker.

"Does little girlie think she can stand up to me?" he pestered, "What are you gonna do, give me cooties?"

Tsarina gave a short snarl before her feet began running across the cement with a thumpity-thump. The sound of a blade swiping through air followed. I whistled through my teeth. She missed.

With a bout of evil laughter, Vic exclaimed, "Oh no! Don't give me a paper cut!"

A quick metallic whip sound snaked through the speakers as well as the sound of a knife sinking into flesh. A spidery howl shot out of the laptop.

"Alright!" Mikey shouted.

"Nice one." Leo decreed.

"That's my girl." Raph stated.

"That does not sound pleasant." I said, and after receiving odd glances, added, "On Vic's end."

Our celebration was interrupted by an ugly thud and air whooshing around an airborne body. Silence followed, a sign that Zina had landed more like a cat than a klutzy human. A flying knife's sound emitted from the speakers, and the sticky thump of a bloody blade hilt in an expert's hand.

Vic stated, "I see you know kung-fu, too."

I just had to smile when Tsarina snippily retorted, "It's not kung-fu; It's an ancient Japanese battle art."

"You sound jus like that scrawny turtle." He growled, "But your little frog friends aren't here to save you now, are they?"

"Why does everyone say I'm scrawny?!" I griped.

"I'VE never said you're scrawny." Raph stated. After mulling over it for a moment, he added, "By the way, you're scrawny."

"Now where are you going? The fun has just begun!" Vic's voice teased before acquiring a menacing tone, "I'm gonna crush you like a phone."

A deep resonating thud sounded through the speakers. A million bones seemingly popped at once. Fingernails-on-chalkboard screeches squeaked through my computer, so loud and agonizing I assumed my speakers had broken. A few little shuffles and scuffles bounced to the chip before the loud stomps of Spider Bytez started. You could practically feel the ground vibrating and the chip jumping up and down. The spitting sound of an acid shot made me cringe. Teenage human ninja girl footsteps clambered through the speakers. Another acidic spit noise.  
Zina screamed a wretched noise that curdled your blood and made you want to personally tear whoever forced her to emit it limb from limb. "It burns!" she cried piteously.

"That's it!" Raph said, sprinting out of the lair and into the sewers.

"Now where are you going?" Leo protested.

"To show Vic that you don't mess with my sister." Raph's voice answered.

By some unspoken consent, we all took off after him. Spider Bytez's demonic laughter bade us a frightening departure.

Donnie

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/

Tsarina

I moaned painfully as Spider Bytez's heavy stomps rattled my aching bones. Every heart-wrenching organ-splitting bone-crunching jolt only filled my eyes with more involuntary tears. They soon became to overflow, turning the gorgeous night sky into a speckle of sparkles. Orion's three-star belt melted into a gleaming ivory line, his once-starry bow a shiny blur that hurt my eyes. One of Spider Bytez's s steps, the heaviest yet, made me bounce up and down on the salted wood. What had one felt like a squishy pillow compared to sewer concrete felt harder than the cesspool cement. I curled up in the fetal position and silently cried, out of pain and sorrow, not as much for me, but as for Donnie and Leo and Raph and them. My aches were nothing compared to what Splinter's and Shen's would be when their long-lost daughter, only found mere months ago, had been maimed or killed or possibly eaten by a demon spider. Shen would feel so bad, think it was her fault for leaving me alone, when it was me who let her leave, me who went to the dock, me who didn't leave when I had the chance. At the edge of my fuzzy eyes I saw a thick red and black zigzag-striped blur.

His deep laugh worked its way into my mind and seized control of whatever sanity I had left. Even if I somehow survived this torture, I knew I could never be the same.

I thought about what I might do if I did survive. My fevered mind decided I would be best to start looking into a life of hermitude; never leaving your home, doing everything from a computer, making your friends and family do things like grocery shopping for you. The most miniscule sliver of me, the part of me that was truly and actually me, abhorred the idea and wanted to subdue the rest of my head into listening to its reasonable thinking. My sickened brain ignored the thoughts of reason and focused instead on its overwhelming thoughts of paranoia.

"How has Splinter not gone insane?" my sane sliver thought.

Spider Bytez's deep growl sliced through all my thought and took over my mind. "You messed with the wrong bug, girl." He snarled.

Weakly, I mumbled, "Spiders….are….arach….nids."

"Nonsense. Your pain-muddled brain knows nothing." He retorted, his voice cutting into my head, making me want to shriek and tear at my hair, "While my mind is as clear as glass."

I groaned and curled up tighter. Just get it over with! Chop my head off, incinerate my skull, do SOMETHING! Send the white light already! It hurts.

Spider Bytez continued to drone on, but I mustered enough strength to push his blade-voice out of my head and tune him out. I wonder if suicide at this point would be considered dishonorable. My knives were most likely stuck in the sand at the bottom of the sea. Choking myself seemed like a good option, but I couldn't collect enough energy to move my arms, let alone grip my neck strong enough. In a final stroke of brilliance, I decided to hold my breath until I died. I didn't bother sucking in a ton of air; I wanted this to be quick. My face grew warm and my chest ached, but still I refused to breathe. Black shadows started to slink across my vision. I suddenly remembered that your body starts involuntarily breathing once you pass out.

Damn it.


	8. Chapter 8

**The chapter starts from Donnie's POV again. For future reference, diastema is the technical name for a gap between two teeth, or in other words, what Donnie has. I do not own Candy Land™ or its characters King Kandy™ and Princess Frostine™ or TMNT.**

We followed Raph as he raced down the road. While we ducked in shadows and avoided streetlamps, he blazed right down the sidewalk without a care, not even noticing when he split his foot open on a spiked umbrella tip. Spider Bytez would not stand a chance against him.

The old dock soon came into view. The first thing I saw was a tall, shadowed figure with four long, pointy feelers. "I think we're in the right place!" I called.

For once, Raph didn't reply with a snide remark or a witty retort. He just continuously plowed on. If anything, he ran faster. The monstrous spider that was once named Vic stood on the pier, towering over a limp, lifeless figure. Lifeless. Bad word, very bad choice of words. Let's try comatose. Comatose sounds better. A limp, COMATOSE figure. Said limp comatose figure was lying on the briny wood, limbs splayed awkwardly. Wet tousled locks the color of molten chocolate fanned around her head. As we got nearer, I noticed vivid red spots on her legs and arm, as well as large, minced holes in her clothes. Little puss yellow globs sizzled on her skin. I prayed she would move soon. She had to. Otherwise she'd be….

Spider Bytez was drawling on, something about "superiority" and 'invincibility'. Yeah, okay. Raph sprinted up to the large beast and leapt onto him, stabbing his sai where his shoulder blades would be. Spider Bytez shook Raph around, but he clung on, riding the mutant spider like Mikey did that sea monster from Dimension X. Eventually, Spider Bytez dislodged him and rubbed the furiously bleeding wounds on his back. He snarled and looked at Tsarina, but she remained as still as ever, not a single twitch excluding the flesh-eating acid clinging to her. Looking confused, Spider Bytez whirled around until he spotted Raph, his sai dripping transparent blood.

"Whoa ho ho. I guess I was wrong. The little froggy with the salad tongs is here to save the day!" Spider Bytez said with mock excitement.

"You aren't gonna get away this time, bug." Raph growled.

I explained with great frustration, "I have told you before, spiders are not insects! They are arachnids! A-RACH-NIDS."

"Really, Donnie?" Leo said, "Do you have to do that now?"

"Yes, yes I do." I quickly retorted, "Now can it." Leo rolled his eyes, most likely thinking about how nerdy and dorky I am. I stuck my tongue out at him like an immature child and exclaimed, "Neener neener!"

"So, my little froggy friends." Spider Bytez sneered, "What brings you here? Besides complete and utter unintelligence, that is." I bared my teeth at him, my diastema taking away any fierceness.

"Cut out the act, Spider Bytez! We know you know we want Tsarina!" Leo proclaimed.

"I'm confused." Mikey declared, "Who knows we know who wants who?"

Before I could clarify for my small-brain-cell-amounted brother, Spider Bytez boisterously observed, "Spider Bytez? Is that my name now? Is Vic not good enough for a lowly spider like me? And who's this Tsarina? Is that the girl's name?" Without waiting for anyone to answer his question, Spider Bytez added, "That girl was quite the annoying little brat, she was. It took me forever to get her to stop screaming and squealing."

Spider Bytez left his mouth open, as if he would continue ranting and raving, but he didn't get to say anything before Raph came up behind him and stabbed him once more. The spider howled and scrabbled at his back with his short stubby arms. Raph only dug his sai in deeper. Spider Bytez yelped and stumbled backwards, his heavy elephant feet sinking into the rotting dock wood. Still, Tsarina didn't even shudder, her sparkling emerald of eyes sitting motionless beneath her eyelids. The salty wood creaked loudly as Spider Bytez took another step back, the laths protesting the added weight. Another step backwards and the sea-weathered wood began to slump and crack, splintery lines spider-webbing across the planks. Raph heard the snaps and squeaks and drew his sai out of Spider Bytez. He leaped back to shore, giving Spider Bytez a good shove along the way. The giant mutant tripped and fell flat on his back. The wood couldn't take it, and the dock crumbled beneath him and Tsarina. They plunged into the water, the crystalline liquid enveloping them both.

I rushed up to the edge, barely saving myself from falling in. I shaded my eyes with my hands, holding them against my forehead. Spider Bytez choked and squirmed under the water, paddling away from me. Tsarina stayed still, the impact of the water having folded her unruly hands on her chest and pressing her legs together. Her expression remained placid and emotionless, the gentle ripples of the waves giving the illusion that her eyeballs flickered under their lids. As she sank, the glistening murk of New York's waters hid her from view. A soft thud rose up as her body hid the bottom. I choked back salty tears and began to turn away. Suddenly, more thumps echoed through the waters, the sound making undulations on the surface. Three quick taps, then three taps with pauses in between, then three more quick taps. Morse code. SOS. Instantly, I whirled around and plunged into the sea.

Donnie

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/

Tsarina

Everything was black. The sky, the ground, the world, all black. There was no sound, no scent, just the same, monotonous, black. I tried to move, to lift my hand, my leg, my eyelid, but they wouldn't respond. Nothing would. I was stuck lying, no, EXISTING, in the world of black.  
I began to think all there had ever been was this black, my entire life a colored dream which had cruelly ended. I wondered if I would get another chance, another dream-life, one I could do better on. If I did, I would do better; I would focus on the bigger picture, I would focus more on changing the world than myself. Because if life was just a dream, what did it matter if you survived or not? What matters is making the dream better, for everyone else, not you.

It slowly started, so faintly I didn't notice it until it was full blown. I had no clue what it was; all I knew was that it didn't smell black. Maybe I had another chance, another dream, another life to experiment with! Maybe I could start over, try and make that better dream we need. Suddenly, a thought struck me, clear as a bell.

The smell was salt.

The sounds of gentle waves and running feet reached my ears. Someone was speaking, but the words drifted over my head, meshing together into a cohesive lulling sound. The taste of salty air sat on my tongue. I felt my limbs, coated with water, stretched around me. My hair fanned out behind me, the locks heavy with water, some caught between planks, became apparent to me. I felt the acid gnawing on my skin, yet it only tingled, as if that spot and that spot only had fallen asleep. Yet the world around me was still black.

A random burst of color blinded me, a shade which I had never seen before. It was indescribable, a mix of the beauty of every color and hue. Bursts of brightness attacked by vision. Neon green, electric blue, highlighter yellow, the fluorescent rainbow splattered across the black as if an artist had hurled xenon paints at a midnight canvas. I half expected to see a multicolored candy chunk road and a gingerbread castle, complete with King Kandy and Princess Frostine, welcoming me to Candy Land. Sadly, no cookie castles and candied corridors greeted me, only more incandescent colors. Flamingo pink, fire engine red, tangerine orange, neon shades of every color twirled spellbindingly over the black background, covering any traces of the shadowy shade. Just when I thought I had begun to make sense of the delusional swirls, a new noise, the sound of splitting wood, assaulted my sensitive eardrums. It grew louder in strength until another bold thought hit me.

It's under me.

I began to panic, struggling to force my limbs to move. They sat stark still, weighty sticks attached to my body. The wood squealed and ripped until it stopped suddenly. I waited, unsure of what to do next. Suddenly, the wood disintegrated, sending me falling into the sea, along with chips of wood and flecks of salt. For a split second, I fell through the air, time slowing around me, making said second feel more like a minute. I was frozen in air, dropping half a millimeter every second, so it seemed, though really I barely had time to blink before I hit the water. I felt like I was flying downward, my arms catching the air like wide, open wings. Then time rushed forward again and I smacked into the deep.

Water flooded around me, but still I couldn't move. I felt a disturbance in the ocean as a creature next to be floundered about. The forceful water twirled my extremities around as if they had minds of their own. It finally settled on smashing my legs together and folding my arms prettily on my chest. It made sense if I were to die I should at least die properly.

Soon I hit the shallow bottom. The soft jolt sent energy running through my bones, resurrecting my arms and legs. My weak body wouldn't push itself to the surface yet, even after my attempts to swim-crawl upward. I saw a familiar face, a green one with brown eyes and a purple bandanna, look worriedly over the edge. Tears rimmed the bottoms of his eyes and he began to walk away. Inspired by Donnie's sadness, I forced my tired arm to move. I banged it on the water-glued sand floor, three times in a quick succession. Three 'dots', Morse code for the letter S. Then I stamped it again three times, pausing between each thud. Three 'dashes', Morse code for the letter O. Once more I smacked the sand three times quickly. Another Morse code S. SOS. Save Our Souls.

Donnie instantaneously returned and dove into the water, clouding my vision with a bubble storm. The transparent bubbles shaped my sight into a Picasso painting, chips and fragments of shapes expanding and contracting, the images changing from one second to the next. A stripe of bubbles turned a brilliant purple, random bubbles popping and clearing a space, only for aforementioned space to be filled by another soapy orb. Having wasted my energy on my Morse code message, and not feeling any need to exert energy on anything else, my senses dulled and I only vaguely felt when Donnie dragged me to the surface. I saw the surface of the water come closer, but my brain couldn't process the fact that meant I was going to be above water soon. My lungs ached from holding my breath so long. How long was it before you started getting brain damage from oxygen loss? Three minutes? Five? I lolled my head over to look at Donnie. He looked fine, not even slightly red or blue or whatever color it is a mutant turtle turns when they don't have enough air. Good question; if you choke a mutant turtle, what color does it turn? Donnie didn't even look like he was exerting any effort carrying me. Stupid mutant turtle awesomeness.

My head broke the surface a little after Donnie's. He rolled me onto shore and pressed his two and only fingers against my neck, feeling for a pulse. After a few minutes, he removed his fingers and looked at me confusedly.

"Please don't know CPR. Please don't know CPR." I silently prayed.

I sputtered a bit and choked out, "I'm fine." It ended up sounded like more of a raspy croak, which concerned Donnie even more. He started to do the chest-pump part of CPR, where you lock your hands together and press on the person's gut. Between breath-stealing crunches I coughed, one word at a time, "Stop….it….I'm….fine….I'm….fine….I'm….FINE!" On the last word I yelled and feebly swatted at Donnie. One more pump and he would've had top mouth-to-mouth. Ugh (Shudder at will, or maybe fangirl about it, I don't know how you people think.)

"It's all good!" he yelled, "She's fine!"

Despite Donnie's all-clear, Raph insisted on running over and checking me over. "Are you all right, sis?" he asked.

"Yeah," I mumbled, slightly depressed, "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" he asked, It doesn't seem like it."

"It's just that…." I began to say, but Leo interrupted me.

He ran by and motioned for us to follow him. "Come on! You have school tomorrow!" he called.

Ignoring my protests, Raph picked me up and cradled me like a baby, forcing me to be carried like a child. I watched the wharf and its sparkling waters vanish behind me. I saw nothing but the sparkle of the sea and the faint peach glimmer of the soon-to-be rising sun. I slid my iPod halfway out of my bag.

"God, its 3:00." I moaned inwardly, "I'll never get any sleep. Hmph, may as well get some now." And with that, I withdrew into the land of dreams that had been calling to me since I awoke.

Four long pointed red-and-black feelers rose ever so slowly out of the sea, water droplets falling off in slow motion. The rest of the creature emerged until its little beady eyes peered out just above the surface. "Hmm, sister, huh?" Spider Bytez muttered, "I might be able to use this girl." He ominously sank back under the murky water, the rippling waves hiding the monstrosity from the burning eye of the first sun.

**I'm not sure if I have to disclaim this, but I don't own Morse code.**


	9. Chapter 9

**I do not own J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit, which is a great book, BTW. I also do not own TMNT or Apple. To any who don't know what a kitsune looks like, or how Tang Shen's kitsune shows up in my mind, find a picture of the Pokémon Vulpix, which I of course do not own either, and imagine it dark purple. **

With a groan, I dragged myself awake. "Good morning." Tang Shen said cheerfully in my head.

"Liar." I retorted, my acidic burns stinging horribly, "What time is it?"

"10 hours, 4 minutes, 23 seconds and counting ante meridiem." Shen declared.

"Ante meridiem…." I thought, trying to decipher Tang Shen's sophisticated speak, "Wait a minute. Ante….Meridiem….A.M! It's 10:04 A.M!" I jumped out of bed and ran into the lair. Donnie was sitting on the couch.

He casually looked over his shoulder and said, "Oh, good. You're awake."

"Why didn't anyone wake me up?!" I exclaimed, "It's ten in the morning! I am so late."

"No school." He stated, "Power's out."

"What?" I asked.

With a smile, Donnie said, "We thought you deserved a day off. Extermination is a hard job."

I looked at him confusedly. He held up a pair of wire clippers and waved them at me. I grinned. "You're the best." I decreed.

"Guilty as charged." He replied, still grinning.

I probably would've struck up a conversation with him, but just then Leo walked in and immediately came over to me. "Are you okay, Spikette?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm all good." I declared, "It's gonna take more than some little bug to keep me down!" Without even seeing Donnie open his mouth, I corrected, "Arachnid. It's gonna take more than some little ARACHNID to keep me down."

Leo smiled and started to speak. Out of nowhere, Raph came into the lair, holding Spike. I tried to warn Leo not to call me any Spike-based nicknames (for he has more than one), but he started talking before I could. "That's my little Spiky Girl, tough as a turtle!" Leo exclaimed, "Just try not to get into any more mutant wrestling matches, okay?"

"Okay." I squeaked, nervously watching Raph to see if he had heard. Maybe if I tell myself enough times he won't have. Raph heard nothing. Raph heard nothing….

"Spiky Girl?" Raph asked, "Where'd you get that name from?"

"Dang it! He heard it!" I thought. Leo stood shock-still, staring into nothingness.

"Umm…." Leo mumbled, his eyes darting around, as if something in the sewers could be a good excuse for my nickname. He looked around for a while longer, and then randomly sprinted out, seeking refuge somewhere in the dojo.

Raph glanced at me and demanded, "Spill."

I explained to him how I came to be nicknamed after his pet. He listened without interrupting (surprisingly; maybe there's some truth to my nickname), though he did occasionally glare in the general direction of Leo's hidey-hole. Once I had finished, he set Spike down on the counter and chased Leo around the dojo. I laughed at Leo's frightened screams (He screams like a little girl. He may deny it, but he does.)

"I would not want to be Leo." Donnie stated. He looked at me and winked. "Isn't that right, Spikette?" he asked.

I probably should've been worried about the fact that a giant mutant spider now had a grudge against me, or that tomorrow was Friday and I hadn't made a single arrangement to switch schools, but I didn't want to let that ruin my day off. I wanted a perfect day of relaxation, naps, and library books. Of course, Master Splinter decides this would be an opportune time for a training session. He said I need to be able to fight even when I can barely stay awake. He said "Enemies will not wait for you to catch your breath and clear your mind. They will attack relentlessly until you are on the ground."

I was forced to battle Splinter and the guys in random order, so that they could get rest in between (jerks). Splinter even made me face Tang Shen's shadow kitsune, though she kindly minimized it to the size of an average dog. I still failed miserably. How am I supposed to kick something whose first defense is to disappear? And I swear, that little's things claws are SHARP!

Eventually after fifteen battles, I quit. I stole Splinter's staff, hauled myself up the tree with it, and set it at the very top, maybe ten feet off the ground. I half-climbed half-fell down and threw my knives into the patchwork dummy's heart. Then I stalked into the living room, grabbed the thick metal chains once used to lock up Leatherhead and chained the staff to the tree branch. Since I was already in so much trouble, I stupidly tried to chain Splinter to the tree, and almost succeeded. But I tripped over a metal link and Splinter chained my hands behind my back. I dragged myself into the lair, chains and all, and began to read my library book, turning the pages with my toes. Judging by the sounds coming from the room, a basketball game was taking place with the Kraang communicator. I crawled back into the dojo and asked Raph to unlock the chains for me, which he did.

I quickly jumped up and stole the ball before it could fall into the metal hoop. "Ha ha!" I cheered, "Interception!" I ran back to the heart of the lair and jumped on a beanbag, burying my face in the book. Donnie craned his neck to see the cover.

"The Hobbit?" Donnie asked, "Don't tell me you've never read Lord of the Rings!"

"Okay." I stated and continued reading.

"Did you get to the part where Thorin dies yet?" he asked.

"Spoiler alert!" I shouted, chucking my shoe at his head and sorely missing. I added, "Wait, which one is Thorin?"

"The prince, son of Thrain son of Thror….that whole bit." He answered, though when I still looked confused he added, "The bossy one who doesn't like Bilbo."

"Ahh…." I declared, "I didn't like that one anyway. My favorites are Fili and Kili."

"They die too." Donnie stated, ducking to avoid my other shoe.

"What part of 'spoiler alert' don't you get?!" I exclaimed.

"Come on, you could've looked the same thing up on your iPod!" he defended.

"Wouldn't I need a working iPod for that?" I asked, silently changing my favorite dwarves to Nori, Ori and Dori. I liked Ori the best; he was the young one with low intelligence yet was really great with a slingshot. Remind you of anyone? Or any-turtle? Wink wink. "Speaking of working iPods, do you think you can fix mine?"

Donnie grimaced and said, "I don't think so. The only part of it that's not completely shattered is a chip I inserted in it." I frowned and glared angrily at my book. Hmph. Of course all the dwarves find hidden goblin treasure and magic elf swords. Maybe I can get a gold loan from them to pay for a phone. "Hey, don't be sad." Donnie said, "I've got something for you."

"If it's the splintered remains of an iPod Touch 4th Generation, you can keep it." I decreed crankily.

"It's not that." He replied, "It's the non-splintered whole of a T-phone 1st and only generation!" He dropped a shiny new phone in my hand. "I managed to transfer all your iPod's contacts on there too." I grinned and scrolled through the contacts: Donnie, Mikey, Leo, Raph, April, Merlind, Mom, Dad…. I paused at the last two. With sadness and then anger, I deleted the two contacts. Then I went back up and hit the first one and typed two simple keys. Donnie's phone buzzed and he looked at it. He smiled ear to ear. I knew exactly what the message said.

:)

For an hour or two I laid on my bed reading. I was undisturbed except for the guys randomly shouting about 'Ninja Dodge Ball' and the occasional interference from the Kraang orb. When that happened I protected my Russian nesting dolls or whacked with my book. Who says hobbits aren't vicious (besides J.R.R. Tolkien….and Gandalf….and the dwarves….and hobbits themselves….never mind)?! Just as I was getting to the start of the Five Army Battle, I heard Splinter start yelling about parties and Mikey about talking cupcakes. I assumed it was Mikey; otherwise one of the guys was high or something.

"Oh god, what has Mikey done now?" I thought, bookmarking the page and sneaking into the living room. I watched in what I thought was secret from behind a corner. Donnie was holding the Kraang orb and looking guilty as Splinter lectured them.

He shouted, "The party is OVER!" and the guys snapped their legs together like trained robots. Suddenly, little pink swirls spread over the pearly Kraang orb.

"This can only mean one thing." Donnie stated grimly.

"Cupcakes CAN talk?" Mikey asked. Oh good, none of them are high. I probably would've thrown a shoe at him, but mine were both behind the couch from when I had chucked them at Donnie/

"The Kraang are back." Leo declared with a scowl. I gulped and pretended I was a chameleon, just in case.

"I guess the party is over." Mikey said bleakly, or at least as bleak as Mikey can be.

Without even a slightest glance in my direction, Splinter commanded, "Tsarina, why don't you go visit Merlind?"

"But what about…." I began to ask.

"Retrieve your knives and go pay a call on Miss Merlind." He stated, "Tang Shen shall accompany you."

"But spiders and mutants and…." I protested.

Not raising his voice in the slightest, he said, "Tsarina Miwa Hamato- Volkov."

"Yes sir, Master Splinter, sir!" I shouted like a military brat. I quickly snagged my shoes and sprinted off, trying not to trip as I tugged on the ballet flats.

I managed to keep myself at Merlind's until dusk. Then I bade her goodbye and left, taking a longer route that wound far away from the dock. My burns stung just thinking about it. Tang Shen didn't even think about asking to leave (if she did I would know). I knew she felt really guilty about having gone. Once many of the people had started filtering out, she and the little kitsune started walked beside me. The kitsune yipped happily and danced around my feet, waggling its plum tails. It made me giggle. Then I spotted April and her dad on a rooftop, her dad holding a small device. I caught wind of words like 'extra credit' and 'pigeon migration'. Pigeon migration? I don't have to be Donnie to know something didn't add up here. That's when I saw a blurb in the air that….well….that just didn't look right. Then the blurb flashed, and for a second, I saw the Kraang ship, buzzing through the air.

"Oh no, oh no." I thought, "I knew I should've stayed in the lair."

I chased that blurb from the ground, clambering up a skyscraper to get closer. "Ugh!" I exclaimed aloud, "It's too far up!"

"Want a boost?" Tang Shen asked. Before I could answer, Tang Shen and I switched places, and she shot me in ghostly form into the ship.

A giant blue robo-monster with a Kraang head was prancing around in the ship with rockets and motorized razors. Mikey rammed a Kraang in a little hover pod and it went whizzing around, nearly taking off my head. A giant hole in the ship's floor opened up.

"Hey Shen." I asked, "Can you/me/we shoot fireballs or snowballs or bouncy balls or something?"

"No fireballs, no snowballs, and definitely no bouncy balls." She giggled, "But you/me/we do have shadow balls."

"Cool! What button do I press for that?" I exclaimed silently.

She snickered and levitated a shadowy orb over my head. Dark clouds swirled around in an unkempt sphere. She floated it over to the head of a Kraang brain that was hovering in the corner no one had noticed and released it. It burst in a cloud of purple and fell spinning through the gaping hole. Somehow, the guys didn't see me until I KO'd the Kraang. They shouted at me to go home and for Shen to take me back. In the midst of the argument, a huge amount of mutagen-filled containers dropped to the floor and started rolling toward the hole. I swooped into the opening and attempted to catch as many as I could, but they passed through my ghostly arms.

"Shen! Catch them!" I shouted silently.

"You cannot be solid yet fly!" she retorted, "Either you hover here and let them fall or catch them and fall yourself! And I refuse to let you fall!"

In anger, I hurled a shadow ball at nothing, but it ended up hitting the corner of a mutagen tube. It went spiraling in a different direction, straight toward April.

"Oh god, bad move. Stupid stupid move!" I thought, "Donnie will kill me!"

I flew underneath the canister, trying everything to get it to move. I struck it with more shadow balls, attempted to push it out of the way, and even tried blowing on it to make it move. It refused to move away. It acted like it was destined to hit April. In a final desperate attempt, I tried to force myself around Tang Shen's barriers and will myself into a human form. After much battering and panicking, I temporarily separated myself from her and turned human. The shadow ball in my hand fizzled out, and the tinted gray shades of my body returned to actual colors. The tip of my finger barely touched the canister's end before Tang Shen took over and saved me from crashing. The mutagen bottle shattered and the ooze covered the person who had succeeded doing in what I had not; protecting April. Mr. O'Neil stumbled off the building and fell into a cloud of bats.

"Oh God, oh God, what have I done?!" I thought, cursing Tang Shen for her ghostliness. I tried to follow him, but Tang Shen took over and flew me off to who knows where.

I struggled, but Shen had a firm grip around my mind. "Mutants can be incredibly unpredictable. You're safer away from her and her father." She stated.

"If mutants are so unpredictable then why do we live with five of them?!" I shouted aloud, attracting a weird glance from April, who was holding her-formerly-mine tessen.

"Tsar…." She started to ask, but just then a bat mutant that looked all too familiar swooped up and snatched her away.

"April!" I heard Donnie shout.

The guys showed up on the roof and started talking, but I zoned out. I had failed. My first mission of any importance, and I failed. I'm just about as useful as Spike is. Spikette for sure. The turtles went off to the lair, and I solemnly floated behind.

"Tang Shen? Can I have my body back now?" I mentally asked.

She remained silent, but I metamorphosed into a human again. She shut herself away in the back of my head and said nothing for the longest time. I took a shortcut and slipped home before them. I stalked into my room and picked up The Hobbit. I finished the whole book in one sitting, through the whole Battle of Five Armies all the way to the auction at Bag End.

"Hmph, so Thorin does die." I thought, "It should've been me instead."

Donnie was stressed for a while afterward, and Raph and Leo kept using parrot analogies. I was too dejected to catch on. I barely even noticed when Mikey started running around the lair with orange juicers over his eyes yelling stuff about 'Turflytle' and saying 'buzz buzz' after everything. The only reason I DID notice was because I was repeatedly slapped with turflytle arms. I saw them leave, but I refused to get involved. With a padlock, I locked myself in my room and hugged an old teddy bear I'd brought from home. I would've preferred it'd been Scotch, but Splinter and cats don't mix too well. Hehe….

I was perfectly content to spend as long as I desired in my room, but of course Tang Shen had to come and ask me if I was okay. My answer: "Tsarina does not want to be bothered right now. Please leave a message after the groan."

"Tsarina, open this door now or I will come in anyway." She demanded.

"Trespassing will result in banishment from the recesses of Tsarina's mind." I stated monotonously, "Have a nice day." She ignored me and floated through the door. "What part of 'trespassing' do you not understand?"

"The part where you think you can actually keep me out of your room in the first place." Tang Shen answered. I remained stonily silent and stared into the rip under my teddy's eye. The stuffing inside was tinted pale blue from an incident with fabric softener (long story), so the little puff leaking out looked like a tear. I gently pressed the stuffing back into the cut.

"Don't cry, Nubby." I thought (His tail is a nub, so my 5-year-old self named him Nubby) "If anything I should be the one crying, not you. You didn't make a mutant out of anybody." Nubby insisted on crying his little stuffy tears, so I let him, sharing in his patchwork sadness.

"It's not your fault Kirby is a mutant." Shen consoled.

"You're right." I said, "It's yours."

"Now now. Would you prefer to be the bat mutant?" she asked.

"Yes! If it means Mr. O'Neil would be okay!" I shouted, starting to become a bit like Nubby, if you know what I mean.

"Kirby chose to sacrifice himself." She said in a poor attempt to comfort me, "For April."

"Who wouldn't even have been in danger in the first place if not for me!" I yelled. The top of Nubby's head started to get damp. Shen started to say something, but I stopped her and said, "Face it. You screwed up and there's nothing you can do to change that. So will you stop talking?"

"I'm your Echo." She said, "I'm supposed to answer you."

"Yeah, well I left the cave a while ago!" I shouted, unlocking the door and slamming it behind me.

The guys walked into the lair the same time I did. Donnie looked really down. "Hey, Spiky Girl." Leo stated.

"Shut up, Trekkie." I stated, stalking right past him.

"What's wrong, Z?" Raph and Mikey asked simultaneously. "Jinx!" Mikey shouted.

Alluding to the evil lair of Sauron in Lord of the Rings, I spat "The jinx machine is out of order. I hope Gollum eats you and you die in Mordor."

"Tsarina!" Splinter exclaimed.

"Yeah yeah, you'd be more horrified if you knew who Gollum was and who lives in Mordor." I said.

"I do." Donnie stated, "And that is not nice."

"Thank you for the input, Captain Obvious." I grumbled, dropping onto a beanbag.

"Well someone has a case of the Raphies." Leo said, trying to crack a joke. Even though that was clever, I could tell Leo hadn't meant it, and they were all pretty upset. Without saying a single word, Splinter talked them into explaining their whole ordeal.

He told us what we knew we inevitably had to do, which was go find every canister of mutagen that had been spilled.

"What's the point?" I thought, "I dropped the only one that mattered: the one that hit Mr. O'Neil."

Shen attempted to speak to me, but I shut her out. She fought, and managed to force one word into my mind. Karma.

"Karma?" I thought, "Isn't that the Indian theory that if you do something bad, the universe gets revenge, and vice versa?"

Shen nodded, in a way only I could see.

"Yeah, maybe you're right. I mean, if you do GOOD, the universe rewards you, right?" I thought, "It is the right thing to do. It would be bad if any more innocents became mutants."

"So, are we gonna hunt down some mutagen?" Shen asked.

"You bet." I answered.

**I hope all the Tolkien references weren't too annoying. For those who haven't read The Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit, skip this if you don't want their plotlines.**

**The Hobbit is about Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit, who lives in a place called Bag End. A wizard named Gandalf wants him to go on an adventure, but Bilbo denies. Gandalf scratches a mark on his door and leaves. Because of the mark, a group of thirteen dwarves come to his house and tell him he is their 'burglar' for their expedition to reclaim their home mountain. The problem is, the gold in the mountain is guarded by a dragon. The dwarves are named Thorin, Fili, Kili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dwalin, and Balin. They go on the expedition, dragon dies, gold is won, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But the most important part is when Bilbo finds a magic ring of invisibility in a cave, along with Gollum, hence Lord of the RINGS.**

**In the actual trilogy, Bilbo passes the ring to his cousin/heir Frodo, who takes three of his friends on a quest to go to the Cracks of Doom, the only place the evil ring can be destroyed. **


	10. Chapter 10

The next day, the school fixed the power lines Donnie had cut and I had to go to school. I stumbled through the first half of the day without paying attention to a single thing. It wasn't until lunch that my brain decided it might be a good idea to wake up. Merlind and I got our food and began looking around for an empty corner table where we could hide from the Troublesome Trio and Wizard Boy, who had now taken to calling me 'Glinda the Goof'. I spotted April sitting all alone and guided Merlind toward her.

"Hey April!" I exclaimed, sitting down beside her. She looked up, narrowed her eyes, and hopped into the next seat. I jumped seats to stay next to her, and she kept moving away. I caught her between Merlind and me and growled, "Look. Just because you are angry with my brothers doesn't mean you have to be angry with me."

April snorted and stated, "My dad's a MUTANT because of them. I can be angry at whomever I want. You don't get it."

"Really?" I asked, "I have four reptilian brothers, a rat for a dad, and a ghost of my mom and you think I don't get it?!" Some 8th grader passed me and stared in disbelief. I laughed, elbowed April, and said with mock cheer, "Great work, April! You really put emotion into the play! Now let's try Scene 5."

"What are you talking about?" April moaned, obviously fed up.

I waited till the guy had passed and leaned in before muttering, "Listen. Your dad is a bat, and your life is forever screwed up. I get that. But it's not my fault. It's not even the guys' faults!"

April laughed and said, "Not their fault? Mikey told me himself they dropped mutagen all over the city during the fight! Now whose fault is that?"

"The Kraang's." I answered.

"Really." April declared, "Okay, I give. Explain to me how it is the KRAANG'S fault for something the TURTLES did."

I took a deep breath and used my persuade-Splinter tone to explain, "Yes, the turtles were the ones who initially opened the hatch and dropped the canisters. But why else would that hatch be there if not to bomb the city with mutagen?" April's stern look softened and she seemed to be listening. I continued, "I mean, the two Kraang droids I saw were hovering right next to the button, so they obviously meant to drop it soon. Who knows? They might've even planning to drop it where they were if the turtles hadn't interfered. It might even be a GOOD thing your dad got hit." April glared at me, so I hurriedly defended by saying, "What I mean by that is….look at the orphanage down the road. Maybe the Kraang's plan was to drop the mutagen on the orphanage and mutate all those children." April glanced at Merlind, who mumbled something about 'Macy'. "Maybe the Kraang were planning to drop the mutagen on Times Square. It would be easy for them to hover up there until New Year's Eve and mutate thousands, maybe millions of innocents. Their plan might even have been to fly high up and drop the mutagen on all of New York City, and your dad would've been mutated anyway." I decreed, "So you see, it's not our fault, it's the Kraang. The Kraang are the ones who mutated your father." I waited a bit and added, "Y'know, if not for the Kraang, the turtles wouldn't even exist. That might've been better, don't you think?"

"No! Yes! Maybe. I don't know!" April shouted. I hid a grin. Donnie would be happy; she said 'no' first.

She didn't say anything else until the end of lunch. April got up, dumped her tray, and stated, "I don't forgive them for what they did, but I don't think I hate them for it either." Glancing at me, she declared with a twinge of a smile at the end, "You're a good kid, Tsarina. A lot like your dad." I beamed at her. She smiled back at me and left for her next class.

As Merlind and I were walking back, she asked, "So that April girl knows about the whole turtle-brother thing too?"

"Yeah, she knew them before I did." I declared.

Merlind looked at me with a bewildered expression. "And you said her dad is a mutant too?" she asked.

"Yes." I answered.

"How many flippin mutants are there in this town?!" Merlind shouted, attracting a few weird glances and a few giggles about 'The Blunderful Wiz is more of a Blunderful Ditz.'

"More than you can ever imagine." I muttered, thinking of Dogpound, Snakeweed, and all those other crazy creatures Mikey named.

"What is the world coming to?" she groaned.

I laughed loudly and decreed, "With how many sci-fi novels you read, the question you should be asking is 'How did I not see this coming?'!"

Sixth period breezed by like a wisp of a cloud on a clear windy day. Then came seventh, the algebraic torture chamber. Once again I just filed everything with Tang Shen, who would tuck it away until I needed it for a test or the homework that I would most likely drown in tonight. Today's torture device was slope-intercept form. Yippee. I zoned out and chatted with Tang Shen about the events of the previous days while she absorbed the knowledge I would need.

Suddenly, the teacher called, "You! New girl with the green eyes!"

I looked up and said in my best innocent-country-angel voice, "Yes, Ms. Live?" I nearly slipped and called her Ms. Evil. Now THAT would've been disastrous.

"I hope you were paying attention, because this answer is all of your participation points. For the week." she declared. I almost told her that it wasn't fair to base my whole week's grade on one question, but the sight of her tapping the floor impatiently with her pointer frightened me.

"Quick, Shen, what was the problem?!" I silently asked her.

"Find the y-intercept of the line if its slope is 4 and it passes through the point (-2, 3)." Shen recited.

"Well?" I thought, "What's the answer?"

"I am not doing all your work for you!" she exclaimed, "I am already reluctant to save all these lectures in the back of your mind so you needn't take notes."

"It'll be just this once!" I pleaded, "Besides, you ARE the reason I didn't hear the problem in the first place."

Shen groaned and said, "-5."

"The answer is negative five." I declared out loud angelically.

"No wait!" Tang Shen shouted, "I forgot the negative sign! The answer is 11!"

Just before Ms. Live could respond, I yelled, "Eleven!" Ms. Live looked at me strangely. "The y-intercept is (0, 11)." I declared.

"Is this your final answer?" Ms. Live asked.

"Is it?" I asked Tang Shen.

"Yes." She answered, "Now leave me alone and do your homework. Pages 58-64 even."

"Yes." I answered.

"Close save, Miss….Tsarina." Ms. Live stated, checking her attendance sheet, "Though next time, would you take care not to blow our eardrums out when you answer?" Several members of the class snickered, including Karai, I noticed.

"Yes, Ms. Live." I stated.

"Good. Now today's homework is pages 58-64…." She declared. A loud moan sounded from the class. "LET ME FINISH!" Ms. Live shouted, "Now, as I was saying before I was so RUDELY interrupted, today's homework is pages 58-64 EVEN." Half the class cheered, the other booed. "Oh, would you prefer it be all problems?" she asked, whiteboard eraser poised over the word 'even'. The entire class cheered loudly. Then the bell rang.

As I was walking out, Karai shoved me and said, "Last day, huh Z?" She laughed evilly and stalked out. Thank you for reminding me, jerk. And you need to work on your evil laugh!

I bound into the lair and shouted, "Donnie! Donnie! Donnie!"

"Do I get anything?" Raph asked as I rushed past, "Not even a 'hi?"

"Nope." I declared, "Hey Donnie!"

"What happened?!" he exclaimed, peeking out of his lab in a panic attack, "Did someone get hurt?! Did someone die?! Did someone get eaten?!"

"No one's hurt, no one died, and Spike ate Mikey." I stated.

"WHAT?!" Donnie shouted.

"I'm just joking. Spike just ate a head." I replied.

"A HEAD?!" Donnie yelled.

"Of lettuce." I added.

"Geez, don't scare me like that." Donnie said, "The way you were running through the lair screaming my name I thought Karai was chasing you or something."

"No, but I have some very important news!" I exclaimed.

"Which is?" Donnie asked.

"I got April back on our side!" I decreed.

"Really?!" Donnie exclaimed, looking at me in awe and thankfulness, "You did?!"

"Well, not entirely." I added, "She doesn't forgive you, but she doesn't hate you. I think she just needs time to digest it."

"Anything is a start." He answered, "On a lighter note, we're going to look for the first of the mutagen containers tonight. Do you want to tag along?"

"Of course!" I declared, muttering the latter sentence, "Anything to fix what happened, even in the least."

Donnie picked up the whisperings and said, "I know. I feel just as guilty as you do."

"I think Tang Shen has us outweighed with guilt." I stated, "I was maybe a millimeter away from catching the tube, but if I had caught it, I probably would've hit the roof of the building."

Donnie whistled. "That's a lot to handle." He said. He bent down (he's probably a head and a half taller than me, maybe more) and tapped my forehead, asking "Is everything all right in there?"

I chuckled. Shen used me as a mouthpiece to say, "All is as well as it can be when you are a spirit living with a clan of mutants, Donatello. Or would it be a bale of mutants? Or maybe a mischief of mutants? Probably a bale of mutants."

"Okay, you're done." I said aloud, mentally stuffing a thought sock in her ghostly mouth.

Donnie chuckled and stated, "Y'know, if that friend of yours, Merlind, wants to help, you may be able to get her to come along."

Suddenly, an idea hit me. "Donnie, you are a genius." I declared.

"I get that a lot." He answered.

"So, why are we looking for this stuff again?" Macy asked, skipping along. We groaned.

"I'll tell you again, but this is the last time." I said, "My daddy works as a scientist." Merlind snickered when I said 'daddy'. I continued undeterred, "And this one truck with some yucky stuff on it spilled all the kucka all over the place. So my daddy has to find it all and clean it all up."

"Okay!" Macy exclaimed, still prancing along, "But why do we have to wear these itchy funny-smelling gloves?"

"Because if the kucka stuff gets on you, bad stuff happens." I declared.

"What kind of stuff?" she asked, still happily hopping.

Merlind and I exchanged looks. "Just bad stuff." Merlind said.

"Okay!" Macy exclaimed, obviously happy with that answer.

"Do you feel like we're missing something?" Jolie mumbled to June, low enough that she thought I couldn't hear. In a normal voice, she asked, "Can I see the picture of this stuff again?"

I pulled out my T-phone and showed Jolie the photo of the glowing turquoise substance. "Well, with how bright this stuff is it shouldn't be too hard to see." She declared.

"Nice. Very good." June stated calmly, "We need to maintain a positive aura if we are to find this substance. We must have faith that we will find this. Embrace the yang, not the yin." She tapped the white section of the yin-yang amulet she was wearing. Later in the night I swore I saw it glowing.

I had decided to gather Merlind and her three foster sisters and make our own little mutagen-hunting crew. I made sure we were far away from the guys. Running into a 'bale of mutants', as Shen has taking to calling them, since a group of turtles is a bale, would put a bit of a damper on the evening.

"So, Tsarina," Jolie said in a low voice, so Macy couldn't hear, "I know you don't want Macy to get scared about this stuff, but I for one want to know what I could be getting myself into, and June does as well. So tell us, what will this goop do?"

"Um….The goo will….It will…." I droned, trying to think of an ailment this could cause. I'm not sure arthritis would be enough to make them be careful. I could tell them it causes plaque psoriasis, but I'd probably have to explain what it is.

Suddenly, Merlind exclaimed, "It gives you cancer!"

Jolie and June regarded her oddly. "This chemical is cancerous?" June asked.

"Yeah." I said, playing along, "Why do you think they need cleaned up so fast? Cancer isn't fun."

"That makes sense." Jolie declared. Then, turning to June, she said, "June, keep an eye on Macy. Wait a minute….where is Macy?"

We looked around and none of us spotted the little girl. Then, we heard a high voice yell, "I found one! I found one!" We turned the corner and saw Macy standing in a dead end alley, holding a glowing tube of mutagen.

"Alright, Macy!" I cheered, "Nice job! Now just give me the canister and I'll take it back!" Macy handed me the mutagen and I ducked around the corner with it. I slipped into a manhole and ran it home, leaving it on the kitchen table. Then I ran back as speedily as I could. I bobbed around the corner and exclaimed, "I'm back!" to hide the panting.

"Macy found the jackpot!" Merlind decreed, holding up another mutagen tube, "There are maybe three of these to a garbage can! And there are four garbage cans!"

"Twelve canisters!" I replied, doing the math, "Awesome! Great job, Macy!" I removed the lid of a trash can and began pulling out tubes of mutagen to lug home. I didn't realize Macy didn't answer until it was too late.

Tsarina

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Macy

Once I found the shiny blue goo, Tsarina took it and left, probably to give it to her daddy. Lin saw this bluey glow under the lid of a garbage can. When she opened it up, there was another shimmery tube in there! Jolie and June got all excited and started checking all the other cans to see if there were more tubes in there. I started looking around to see if they were any more goop tubes. I spotted a green-blue light from over in the back corner of the alley. Tsarina came back and started talking with Lin, but I ignored them and dug through the pile of newspaper that the shininess was coming from. A little black kitty came over and started pawing at the newspaper and meowing.

I giggled and said, "You gonna help me find the yucky stuff, pretty kitty?" It meowed and waved its paw at me. I grabbed its paw and shook its hand.

"How do you do?" I laughed, "My name is Macy. How about you?"

The cat meowed and started purring. "Nice to meet you, Mrrowrr!" I said, "Now are you gonna help me with this paper?" Mrrowrr started eating the paper.

"Silly Mrrowrr! You're not supposed to eat paper!" I exclaimed, "Here, follow me." I scooped up some newspaper and tossed it to the side. Mrrowrr smacked a piece of newspaper and batted it in the air. He rolled on his back and bounced the paper up and down before rolling on it and shredding it.

"Aww." I said, still moving paper. I yelped when my nail nicked something hard. I frowned at the now-chipped nail polish. The unicorns on my pointer and middle finger are now missing their horn points and part of the pink background; the one Jolie says looks like "Pepto Bismol combined with bubblegum from the 1980s that's been sitting under a park bench for three decades." She's really specific.

I looked away from my unicorn's boo-boo and looked instead at what I hit. Sitting under all that paper was a tube of glowing ooze, with white and pink nail polish chips on it.

"Look Mrrowrr!" I shouted, "I found it!" Mrrowrr leaped onto my lap and nudged the tube with his head. "No, Mrrowrr." I said, picking up the tube so he couldn't reach it, "This is kucka. You don't want this."

I walked back towards Tsarina and Lin and Jolie and June. Mrrowrr wove between my legs and jumped over my shoes. He pawed at the little pink lights that flashed in the unicorn's eyes every time I took a step, and mewed at the neighing noise it made.

"Hey Lin!" I called, "I found some…." Suddenly, I stepped on Mrrowr's tail and he shot under my other foot. I tripped and hit my head on the ground, hard, throwing the tube. I started crying.

"Macy!" I heard Lin shout. My head thumped every time she stepped closer.

Then Tsarina yelled, "Merlind, watch out!"

The bluey tube twirled right above my head, going to hit me. "Macy!" Lin shouted again. The ground bounced a lot as she got nearer. I held my hands over my eyes as the tube dropped more. I waited for it to hit, but it didn't.

"Huh?" I said, moving my hands. Merlind stood at my feet, reaching forward. In her hands she held the mutagen tube. "Yay!" I cheered, "Lin saved me!"

Then, Mrrowrr came back and licked my face. I giggled and said, "That was a close one, Mrrowrr. I nearly got hit with the kucka."

Mrrowrr whined, as if to say he was sorry. "I forgive you, Mrrowrr." I declared, "It's all better."

Merlind turned over the container and peered inside. "Why is there nail polish on the glass?" she asked.

"Well, it's probably because I chipped the paint on my nail." I stated.

"Hmm…." Lin answered. Then, to my shock, she held it with one hand and started picking at it.

"What are you doing?" I asked, looking nervously at the dangling end.

"If the polish gets through a little crack in the tube, it might mix and explode or something." She said, scratching off the paint. Mrrowrr watched the tube swing back and forth and swatted at it. The end loosened a little each time.

"Mrrowrr….what are you doing?" I said nervously.

He meowed and batted at the end again. "Can you stop that?" I asked.

He meowed and spun it around again. It looked really close to falling off. "Please!" I whimpered.

Mrrowrr stopped and looked at me. He turned around and hopped away. As he left, his tail whacked the canister and the end popped off.


End file.
